Story Snippets
by SnuggleKitten69
Summary: Ideas I will likely never complete but wouldn't get out of my head until I wrote them down.  Many of them are dark.  Most of them come from dreams; some might say nightmares.  These are not likely to be fluffy.  Read at your own peril.
1. Shopping in Knockturn Alley

These are not cheerful, light or fluffy. There are no lemons or limes. They will tend to be things I will not do anything with unless there is some demand for it (if you want to see more about a particular chapter, drop a review for it).

Many of these are inspired by dreams; one might call them nightmares.

Disclaimer: The recognizably named places, names of recognizable characters and other such material is owned by their respective copyright holders. All storyline segments, situations, original characters, places and other original content is owned exclusively by the author.

Timeframe: 1994 to 1995

The group: Tonks in her official capacity as an auror on protective detail, Harry, Hermione and Ron. No chance of a HG/RW here - definitely a HP/HG story. Possible NT/RW overtones (not mentioned in this snippet)

They walked through Knockturn Alley and came to the store whose sign read "The Eye and The Hand" and beneath that "Rare Items of Antiquity, Angus Grimm, Proprietor" It was a store of questionable repute, Moody had explained, specializing in those thankfully 'hard-to-find' items. Hermione had asked Moody what he had meant by that but had explained it was something she would have to discover for herself.

"Touch nothing in the store unless you check it for curses first," he had said as they left.

Upon entering the store, one found a dark, incense-smoke filled room, reminiscent of a bar where only pipes and cigars were smoked. There was enough room for patrons to stand at a chest-high counter and enough room for the shopkeeper to walk behind the counter to service customers. The windows were obscured, the back wall painted black. A thick layer of dust covered the floor. The counter was stained here and there. There were, what appeared to be, two sets of three deep claw marks in the top of the counter nearest the entrance. There was a door in the center of the back wall. They had been told that if you were not known to the shopkeeper, you had to know precisely what you were looking for. If the shopkeeper knew you as a good customer, he may offer up any items he had recently acquired.

As they walked in, they felt the wards flair. The room pulsed blood red, then cyan for a moment. Harry and Hermione were the only ones in the room.

Tonks and Ron looked around. They were both now standing on the steps of Gringotts. "What the...?" Tonks said then grabbed Ron's hand and began pulling him back towards Knockturn Alley.

Harry and Hermione noticed Tonks and Ron missing but the door behind them would not open. They turned at the noise of the door opening behind the counter.

"Ah. Lord Potter," said a hunched man behind the counter, wearing yellow torn, tattered robes and wearing a bone-colored mask with brown runes scribed into it. Only his eyes could be seen brightly dancing in the torchlight. He then looked at Hermione and she felt a chill run down her spine. "Such a lovely, fresh," he paused for a moment and sniffed loudly, the smile clearly evident in his eyes, "unspoiled, young girl."

Hermione fight-or-flight instinct caused her to take a step to stand behind Harry.

The eyes looked back at Harry. "Buying or," the eyes looked past Harry's shoulder at Hermione, then back at Harry, "selling?"

"Browsing," Harry said, reaching behind him, taking Hermione's hand and pulling her right up next to him. Her other hand found his shoulder and she wrapped the other around his waist.

"Pity," the shopkeeper said then his voice brightened again, "but still, a sale is a sale. Come with me then," he said.

A space appeared in the counter and the shopkeeper opened the back door, although nothing could be seen. He gestured for them to enter ahead of him.

Harry was hesitant to take Hermione any closer to this person but they were told he had what they needed to rid the world of Voldemort. He really had no choice. He walked through the door, holding on tightly to Hermione's arm. What little light the torches from the bar had cast extinguished when the door behind them closed. In front of them and to the right, a harsh, sun-bright point of light came on, illuminating a display case on a pedestal covered in black velvet.

The shopkeeper then came into view as a spoke, softly lit from some unknown source that followed him as he walked over to the pedestal.

"A new item of interest," the proprietor said directing their attention to the glass-topped case. What they saw was grotesque...macabre...Dark! He continued, "A Cambodian-style fetish necklace, made of dried human fetuses. Known as 'smoke children,'" he looked back over at Hermione and his eyes came alight at her expression of disgust, "they protect the wearer from any physical harm." The shopkeeper then laughed maniacally for a moment. "One has to question the sanity of anyone who chooses to wear it, though."

He looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione, who remained silent.

"No? Very well," another pedestal a few feet ahead on the left lit up as the light faded to darkness on the necklace.

The shopkeeper gestured to the pedestal as he walked towards it, Harry and Hermione following him a few metres behind. On the pedestal was another glass-topped case. Looking in was a leather pouch next to a small, ten-centimeter tall monkey carved from black wood. It seemed quite old and worn, but it was still possible to discern its leering features.

"Here we have a primitive curio," the shopkeeper said with a slight chuckle. "We received it from the estate of the late Lord Westfield. It is believed to be cursed, and this may be true," he paused then continued, "for when he received it, he began complaining of horrible nightmares of a black stalking creature creeping closer and closer." He stopped again, his eyes gleaming once more as he spoke. "The victim," he paused, his voice apologetic, "excuse me, Lord Westfield died one night shortly after these nightmares began. They say it seemed his flesh was torn away as if by large, powerful claws." He paused again and then continued brightly, "And now it is here for your purchasing pleasure," the smile now back in his voice.

Hermione felt as if she was about to become physically ill. The shopkeeper looked at her, causing her to focus on him. "No?" the shopkeeper asked.

Harry remained silent and impassive, as Moody had told him to be. Hermione violently shook her head, swallowing to keep the bile from rising in her throat.

"Well, perhaps something for the Lady," he said mirthfully.

Another light came on, illuminating another pedestal ahead on the right. As before, the light on the pedestal they were at went out and they followed the shopkeeper over to the now-illuminated one. They looked into the clear top of the case. There were three small, seemingly blood-encrusted rings, connected via fine-wrought chains. Beside these was a barbed, spiked, pear-shaped object with a small, long-handled crank shaft coming out of the narrow end.

"Here we have a set of pretties for the ladies. These are from the estate of the late Countess Anastasia de Minet. They are a wrought set of platinum piercing rings and matching Pear of Anguish. It is our understanding this was the Countess' favourite set of these," the shopkeeper said, clearly looking at the items with fondness. He then looked up at the sounds of Harry swallowing to keep the bile from rising in his throat and Hermione retching. "Perhaps something more formal," he said in a regretful tone.

They went from illuminated pedestal to illuminated pedestal seemingly for hours.

Finally the shopkeeper said, "I am almost out of items to show you, Lord. Ah! I know," he said, touching the chin of his mask, "something for the two of you," he said, the smile returning to his eyes once more. A light illuminated a pedestal to the right and the three walked to it. In the large case atop the pedestal were two long, black, tattered cloaks with ornately runed, finely-crafted brooches which seemed to glow of their own accord. Between the two cloaks were swords whose carving and runes matched those of the brooches.

"These are from the estate of the late Lord Benton. Sadly, he and his lady wife of two days were found dead in a room magically sealed by the Lord himself, both naked and both apparently stabbed many, many times by blades such as these. They say the young lovers quarreled endlessly once they were married," he said speculatively, looking back and forth between Harry and Hermione. Harry was planning to remain impassive and look at the next item when he looked more closely at the rune cluster on the hilt. It was the same cluster as was carved into the legendary Sword of Gryffindor.

"These," Harry said simply.

Both Harry and Hermione startled at the sudden, loud, single clap of the shopkeepers hands. "Excellent choice, My Lord. Such exquisite taste in your possessions," the shopkeeper said mirthfully, leering at Hermione before turning his attention once more to the case's contents.

"Now as to price, do you wish to pay gold or would you like to barter?" the shopkeeper said, his gaze piercing Hermione. Hermione felt as if hands were slowly running over every square inch of her body, inside of her most sensitive places, checking her for imperfections. Hermione pulled herself as tightly against Harry as she could, gripping his hand in desperation. She squirmed and made panicked mewling noises but could not get the feeling of the hands to stop running over her.

"Gold," Harry said, trying to keep his emotions in check at Hermione's discomfort. Moody had been very clear on this, to complete the transaction in gold.

The shopkeeper's shoulders drooped theatrically, "very well then," his voice sounded dejected, "gold it shall be." He moved to hand Harry a card, which Harry reached for then remembered Moody's warning in his head, "_Touch nothing in the store unless you check it for curses first..."_ and returned his hand to his side and simply looked at the card.

The shopkeeper sighed in disappointment as Harry's hand moved away from the card and he leaned in closer to read it.

If Hermione had looked at the card, all she would have seen were twisting, indecipherable runes. As it was, her attention was all to acutely drawn to what seemed to be being done to her body.

When Harry looked at the card, the writing seemed to move and writhe across the card until they finally coagulated into a painful script which simply read, "10,000G".

Harry's eyes never left the shopkeeper, who was rubbing his hands back and forth looking back and forth between the contents of the case and up and down what he could see of Hermione, as Harry took care of the transaction. Harry pulled an empty Gringotts bag from his robes and handed it to Hermione to hold at his waist. He then removed a fountain pen and a Gringotts Writ and filled it out for the correct amount, jabbed his thumb with the lancet on the pen and placed a drop of blood on the writ. He returned the pen to his robes and, taking the bag from Hermione, dropped the writ into the bag. Moments later, Harry felt the bag begin to fill. He upended the seemingly empty bag as gold poured onto the floor in a mostly-neat pile. The few coins that seemed to roll away on the floor quickly turned around and hopped onto the top of the pile.

"Would you like the items wrapped to take with you or shall I have them delivered?" the shopkeeper asked.

"Delivered," Harry said tightly. Hermione was making quiet mewling noises of fear as she once again felt invisible hands at her wrists and knees slowly, methodically making their way towards her torso.

"Very well sir," the shopkeeper said. He once again clapped loudly. The light above the pedestal went out and Harry found himself standing at the entrance to Knockturn Alley. Hermione was holding on to him so tightly he was having trouble breathing. Her eyes were closed tightly and she whimpered pitifully.

Just as Harry blinked his eyes to adjust them to the brightness of the noon day sun, Tonks and Ron came running around the corner.

"What happened, Harry? Hermione, are you okay?" Tonks asked, seeing Hermione moulding herself to Harry, making fearful noises.


	2. Meeting in Cairo

Unrelated to Chapter 1 - This was to be part of "The Dangers of Hunting the Dark" but I have somewhat abandoned that story for now. If you want to see more of it, leave a review.

Disclaimer: The recognizably named places, names of recognizable characters and other such material is owned by their respective copyright holders. All storyline segments, situations, original characters, places and other original content is owned exclusively by the author.

-oOoOo-

E?WE?

Timeframe: Present Day

-oOoOo-

Hermione Weasley looked at the man who was her first friend, her first crush. Even after he killed Voldemort, he was recognizable, though clearly tortured by his choices. Now, she only recognized the face, though the scars caused here heart to beat quickly in fear as they moved and writhed across it. She no longer recognized the soul...the spirit of the man she once knew. When she'd finally found him in the smoky, hole-in-the-wall bar in Cairo, she wasn't sure what she would find.

As she entered, she felt the eyes of the men staring at her as if she was a piece of meat. She walked up to the bar and was about to speak with the barkeep when a large, malodorous man walked up behind her and gripped her shoulder.

"Wha' do we ha' here? A wee bi' o' strumpet," he said, sniffing at her neck and loudly laughing.

Hermione thought he smelled of urine, stale sweat and rancid meat. She was about to unload her wand into his gut when another voice stayed her hand.

"Enough!" a voice rasped. Although it sounded as if it were only a whisper, the words were felt to echo off the walls, floor and ceiling. Silence washed over the room. "She is here as my guest, Timmon. Unless you wish to test your skills against me," the voice said again.

Although there was no directionality to the sound, Hermione sensed it had come from a cloaked figure sitting at a table in a corner in the back of the bar

Timmon shuddered and released Hermione's shoulder and bowed. "Beggin your pardon, Miss. I hope I din't hur' ya," he said apologetically.

Hermione nodded. "No harm, no foul," she said then walked to the table in the corner.

Now that she saw him, her first instinct was to run and cower.

"H...H...H...Harry," she said quietly.

He looked up at her, the hood of the cloak falling back so she could see his face. The scars on his face seemed to ripple and move in the torch light but his green irises now ringed in an unnaturally glowing red caught the scream in her throat.

"I know your face," he rasped.

Fear gripped her. "_Surely this cannot be..."_ her thought began but was interrupted by him talking.

"Hermione,"he said, then laughed an evil, little laugh. "You came looking for me, just as Luna said you would. How is our little seer?" he asked, his voice tinged with hatred and mirth.

"Dead," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"Pity," he said emotionlessly. "And your _husband_," he said snidely, "how is he?"

"Also dead," she said, tears forming in her eyes. She looked to the ceiling to try to quench the tears and provide a focus. The sight of the goblins and a small number of house elves hung from the rafters nearly did her in. She quickly looked back at him.

"Well maybe your news isn't all bad then," he rasped brightly. He gestured up at the ceiling's decorations, "their kind are not accepted here. When they come in the second time, which they always seem to do, the barmen try to accommodate their desire to stay. They no longer bother the elves, thanks to you," then his voice seemed to soften, "and our dear friend."

He then looked directly into her eyes and pinned her there with his gaze, searching within her for something. "Why have you come looking for me? Why now? What is it you seek? Your thoughts are hidden from me. I am impressed," he rasped. He stood, walked around the table and pulled out the chair she had been standing next to. He gestured towards it. She looked at him in distrust. "Sit," he said softly, the harshness leaving his voice, "please?" She sat and he helped slide her chair in. He walked around and sat back in his chair, raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The barkeep nearly ran over. Hermione heard his panicked footfalls so was not startled when he arrived at the table. Her gaze, however, never left Harry.

"Yes, Sir?" the barkeep asked, the fear clear in his voice.

"The usual for me and my guest will be having?" Harry said.

"Butterbeer please," Hermione said.

"I'm sorry Miss, we don't have..." the barkeep began saying.

Harry tapped his finger on the table. "I'm sure you can accommodate the Lady's request," he said.

"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir," the barkeep said then hurried back over the the bar.

"Still the teetotaler, I see," Harry said in amusement.

She was about to speak when he raised his hand for her silence.

The barkeep returned with a bottle and a shot glass for Harry and a bottle of Butterbeer so cold that frost had formed on the outside of the bottle. He left without saying a word.

"You're turn," Harry said.

"Harry, my husband was murdered. Luna was murdered. The Death Eaters are on the rise again. They claim they have somehow resurrected Voldemort again!" she whispered fervently.

"That is not possible. His soul was not banished. It was destroyed. Consumed. Utterly gone," Harry said, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Then they haven't resurrected him?" she asked, a look of hope on her face.

"Oh, they've resurrected something, alright. I have felt the tremors in the dark. Riddle was just a bad wizard. He aspired to be evil. His mind would have shattered if he were faced with the evil he would want to become," he said.

She looked at him questioningly.

He sat forward and flipped the shot glass right side up then filled it from the bottle. His voice became pensive.

"Evil never dies. Darkness never retreats. In the cracks and the crevices of our world there are monsters undreamed of by the rank and file of humanity. I've been there. I've seen them. They exist in the spaces between things, in the folds of existence where we can't find them. Sometimes they cross over, sometimes they manifest, and all hell breaks loose. Only this is not Purgatory, nor Paradise. This is like nothing anyone has ever understood. This is pure evil, pure destruction. This is the Apocalypse."

-oOoOo-


	3. The Countess

This is a flashback/storyline filler from a story I have six chapters written for. If you want to see more, let me know. This countess is somewhat tied to the snippet in Chapter 1.

Disclaimer: The recognizably named places, names of recognizable characters and other such material is owned by their respective copyright holders. All storyline segments, situations, original characters, places and other original content is owned exclusively by the author.

-===oooOOOooo===-

She had been an older witch whose love of violence was only exceeded by her lust for blood and horrific torture.

That she had invented the Cruciatus curse to, in her words, "...inflict upon Flamel, Dumbledore and their ilk all the pain and suffering we've experienced as a result of their plotting..." somewhat explained her attitude.

In contemporary mundane terms, she was a homicidal psychopath. By comparison, Bellatrix Lestrange was a proper, demure, gentle soul. While Anastasia wasn't a raving lunatic the way that Bellatrix was after Azkaban, she was far more evil.

She would imperio husbands and use them to rape and otherwise torture their own children while their wives/mothers were forced to watch. Prior to inventing Cruciatus, she was best known for having fathers under the imperio rape and then joint their sons and daughters.

Stories of Vlad Drăculea were an inspiration to her as parts of her family descended from his line. She revered the written memory of him and amongst her most prized possessions were his hand-written diaries. She especially favored his entries following a battle; entries written in the blood of his enemies.

When Grindewald fell to Dumbledore, she was forced into hiding. Her joys in life were somewhat curtailed until the first rise of Lord Voldemort. Her coming out of hiding made fresh the trail the Unspeakables had been following since Grindewald's downfall.

While she and Voldemort had several joyous weeks together, she refused to be a follower.

Their parting of ways occurred after he insisted she take his so-called "Dark Mark." She had no intention of her beautiful alabaster skin being blemished with his disgusting snake-shaped brand. Voldemort may have enjoyed learning to cast Avada Kedavra, but he certainly did not enjoy parting with Anastasia and learning to cast the spell version of Cruciatus at her tutelage. Her demonstration of it was her parting shot. She cast it on him and held it on him as she gathered her belongings. Once her trunk was packed, she released him from the spell, told him what a complete and utter failure he was compared to her Lord Grindewald and walked out of his life.

Thorn caught up to her in Romania in August 1976. He found her due to the seemingly random trail of bodies the mundane police had continued to find in the area in and around Satu Mare near the Hungarian and Ukranian border. While neither the mundane nor the magical communities of these three countries generally interacted in anything resembling friendly terms, the Unspeakables transcended borders and gathered all information, piecing things together and assembling the various dots of information into a complete picture.

With each body found, and her uniquely-defined injuries apparent, it was child's play to find her.

There was no brave or glorious battle involved in her demise. She clearly was not expecting to be found. To say she was surprised when her right arm from the elbow down was silently reducto'd off would be an understatement.

Once he had her subdued and her magic bound, Thorn proceeded to spend the next week gleaning every possible piece of information from her before he provided her with the release of death. Between veritaserum, Pepper-up potions and legilimency, he captured all of her secrets, including the subtle casting differences between the spell and curse versions of Cruciatus; signed, sealed and delivered. By the time he was done marching through and recording her mind, her death was a mercy. He incinerated her body to a fine white ash, searched her manor for useful information, bound her house elves to him for which they were thankful, tore down her wards and sent anonymous owls to the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Romanian offices of magical law enforcement letting them know she had been responsible for most, if not all, of the regional unsolved slayings of mundanes and magical alike.

He felt neither guilt nor elation. She was a rabid dog. He euthanized her and cleaned up most of her mess.

The Hungarians, Ukrainians and Romanians finished his job when, after their investigation of the grounds of her manor, obliterated all remaining buildings, removed the buried bodies of the victims on the grounds and turned the lands over to the mundane Romanian Orthodox Church to be cleansed and blessed, as even the magical governments felt the land had been desecrated.

-===oooOOOooo===-


	4. Secret Loves Snippet

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters and the universes in which they exist are wholly owned by JKR, her estate, survivors, etc. Any original characters, situations, spells, etc. not specifically mentioned in the existing published works of JKR are the property of their respective owners. I derive no monetary reward from the writing of stories in the Harry Potter genre. I do derive monetary compensation from telling people and companies just how bloody stupid they're being.

Author's Notes with regard to Secret Loves Year 2:  
>My own attempts at broadening the Harry Potter genre pale in comparison to some of the fine authors you will find on this site. Should you care to read some decent authors on this site, I turn your attention to Robst, KB0, Chem Prof, Aealket, nonjon, kyaru-chan, vvc, Clell65619, Canoncansodoff and Rorschach's Blot just to name a few.<p>

Thanks to Texan-muggle for the grammatical and spelling correction suggestions.

Secret Loves Year 2 Chapter 1

Platform 9 ¾ London, June 6, 1992

Harry and Hermione had just finished escaping the Weasley matriarch's farewell hug and had exited platform nine and three quarters. They were smiling shyly at one another when they heard a man's voice.

Harry and Hermione looked up as "Kitten!" was shouted by a tall, well-built man with brown hair standing next to a woman who was so clearly an older version of Hermione; an older version that had learned to tame her hair though.

Dan and Emma Granger were both thirty years old and they clearly loved their daughter, based on the way she was greeted. Dan picked her up in a gentle but engulfing hug and kissed her on the cheek then set her down again, only for Hermione to be engulfed in a hug by her mother. Dan looked at the boy standing next to his little girl.

The boy was dressed rather poorly in clothes that were clearly three or four sizes too big for him, his glasses looked to be two sizes too small and he appeared to be rather thin for a normal boy of eleven years old. From the way Hermione had been acting around him, this must be the Harry Potter boy she mentioned in every letter she had written home. Emma, too, had noticed the boy and his condition and schooled an inviting smile on her face.

"Mum, Daddy. I want you to meet my very best friend," Hermione was saying. "This is Harry Potter. Harry, this is my Mum and Dad, Emma and Dan," she said, smiling at Harry.

Dan put his hand out for Harry to shake. Harry wiped his hand and shook hands with Dan. Harry then went to shake hands with Emma but was instead pulled into a hug. Emma noticed Harry stiffen and released him almost immediately. Dan also noticed Harry's behaviour. "Nice to meet you, Harry. Hermione has told us so much about you," Emma said.

Harry was about to respond when a heavy hand gripped his shoulder and spun him around.

"Boy! Where have you been? You've kept me waiting around these freaks long enough!" Harry's purple-faced Uncle Vernon shouted four inches from Harry's face. Vernon looked at Dan and Emma standing with Hermione. He then turned back to Harry. "More freaks! Let's go, Boy!" Vernon shouted, grabbing Harry's upper arm and frog-marched him to the car park.

Dan picked up Hermione's trunk and looked at Emma. Emma took Hermione's hand. Handing the car keys to Emma, Dan said, "I will catch up to you at the car, Love," then strode off, carrying Hermione's trunk on one shoulder and following Vernon and Harry while staying in Vernon's blind spot. Vernon led Harry to the car park, put Harry's trunk in the boot and roughly shoved Harry into the passenger-side back seat. Already in the car was a thin, almost emaciated, woman in the front passenger seat and a rather large boy taking up more than half of the back seat. Dan quickly wrote down the license plate number, make and model of the car. He then walked to where he had parked his BMW. Emma and Hermione were already sitting in the car waiting on Dan. Emma popped the boot, Dan put the trunk in the boot and hopped into the driver's seat.

"Belts on?" Dan asked. He got a two-voice chorus of "Yes!" and started the car. He manoeuvred through the car park and waited in line at the pay gate. He noted he was five cars behind Harry's uncle.

"Kitten," Dan began, looking in his mirror at Hermione, "what can you tell me about Harry's home life? I need you to be completely honest."

Hermione thought for a moment and decided her parents needed to know the real truth. "Daddy, Harry's home life is abysmal. He stays with his mother's sister and her husband. They aren't very nice to him and, up until last year, his room was a cupboard under the stairs."

Dan had watched Hermione's face while she spoke and knew she was neither exaggerating nor fabricating what she had said.

Emma turned around in her seat and looked at Hermione. "A cupboard under the stairs? Is it safe to presume Harry has been abused, Honey?" she asked Hermione.

Hermione nodded sadly. "They withhold food and make him do most of the chores. You should see the scars on his arms and hands, Mum. They're awful!" she said, trying not to cry for her friend.

Dan paid for the parking and navigated to the motorway.

-oOoOo-

"You ungrateful little bastard!" Vernon yelled once they were in the car. "Forcing me to rub elbows with all those freaks!" His face purpling even further as he practically threw his money at the pay gate attendant. He drove out and got to the motorway and began driving towards Little Whining. Once he was on the motorway his shouting began again.

"We provide you with everything! EVERYTHING! You thankless little snot!" he shouted, spit flying out of his mouth and hitting the dash.

Harry sat in the back seat, trying to make himself as small as possible.

"Then you make me come all the bloody way out to come get you and you have the stones to make me wait! What in the hell were you thinking, Boy?"

"I..." Harry began but was cut off.

"None of your lip, you ungrateful little shit! How dare you? And who was that little whore you were with anyway? Another one of those freaks!" he yelled.

Harry had always been accepting of the abuse he received. He would, however, not broach ANYONE insulting Hermione.

"Don't you EVER call her that again!" Harry shouted back, rising out of his slouch.

"How DARE you raise your voice to me, you ungrateful little bastard!" Vernon shouted, turning in his seat. "When we get home you will learn to fear me even more! I am going to..." he was cut off mid-rant by Petunia's scream.

Vernon looked back towards the road just as the front of the car impacted the oncoming lorry, as Harry tightly gripped Hedwig's cage.

-oOoOo-

Dan had been following Vernon and stayed a kilometre back to prevent being seen by Vernon, a completely unfounded concern. Emma was still turned in her seat talking with Hermione when Dan's surprised shout of "Hold on!" and his slamming on the brakes caused Emma and Hermione both to brace into their seats.

Dan had watched as Harry's uncle's car veered into the oncoming lane of traffic on the turn. Fortunately for the Grangers, the three drivers following them were all paying attention this morning. The two drivers behind Vernon had not been so diligent. When Vernon's car struck the oncoming lorry, several things happened very quickly.

The engine compartment and the front seat of the car merged into a single, collapsed mass of crushed iron, steel, foam, plastic, flesh, bone and blood. Vernon and Petunia were killed instantly. Two tenths of a second later, Dudley, for whom seat belts had never been made large enough, slid from his seat and splattered, literally, into the crushing mass of the front of the lorry. Three tenths of a second after this, the petrol lorry driver immediately behind Vernon recognized, far too late, that he was going to hit the car in front of him and began moving his foot to the brake pedal, never to make it. The impact with the rear of Vernon's car pulled the petrol lorry into the oncoming lane when the right front wheel of the petrol lorry crushed the rear left corner of Vernon's car, resulting in the car being crushed between the two lorries and the rear petrol trailer to slide into the oncoming lane. Half a second later, the car following the petrol lorry struck the rear of the first petrol trailer doing in excess of eighty kilometres per hour, the driver having been shouting at his girlfriend in a heated exchange over another woman. He would never be talking to either woman again as the passenger compartment of the car no longer existed due to the impact, which also tore open the rear eight-thousand-litre petrol vessel of the lead trailer, releasing the liquid petrol onto the hot engine block and exhaust system, causing a large cloud of vapour. An errant spark from debris ignited the cloud, rupturing the second petrol trailer, resulting in an enormous explosion, scattering burning wreckage across all six lanes of the motorway.

Hermione screamed, "Harry!" as the heat wave from the petrol explosion reached their car and Hermione could feel the thermal pulse through the windscreen.

Dan pulled Emma and Hermione down and covered them with his body as wreckage struck the BMW from half a kilometre away, shattering the windscreen and tearing the driver's mirror off.

Once the sound of the blast and falling debris had subsided, Dan let the girls up and looked at the piece of jagged metal embedded in the seat where moments before Emma's head would have been. He then looked at the disaster in front of him through the hole in his side of the windscreen and knew, without a doubt, no one would have survived that cataclysm.

-oOoOo-

Harry heard Aunt Petunia scream. He looked up and saw the front of the lorry filling the windscreen. He grabbed Hedwig's cage and tightly closed his eyes. Suddenly it was very quiet but Harry felt the need to keep his eyes tightly shut. He could hear Hedwig's distress but knew she was not hurt. He could, however, feel something pressing in on him from all sides. His magic was straining against something, holding it off, pushing it back. And whatever was fighting with his magic was losing. Badly. He felt his magic stabilise and opened his eyes. He saw a yellow field of energy, like the static displaying on the television when it wasn't properly connected, in a ball around him. Most of Hedwig's cage was in the ball. The part that had not been in the ball was gone. The entire top of the cage was missing. The ends of the bars looked as if they had been cut and polished. He could see and hear nothing beyond the yellow radiance. He then realized the seat he was sitting in was similarly cut off at the edge of the field. This was most pronounced by the seat belt which had been cut both at the shoulder and at the retractor. The buckle was still intact but the seat beyond it was, if it was still there, on the outside of the field.

"Well, girl, I've no idea what happened," Harry said, attempting to calm Hedwig. He opened the remaining portion of the cage's door and reached in to pet Hedwig. Although the owl was clearly distressed, the moment Harry touched her she calmed down. She nibbled gently at his hands as if he'd been away from her for ages. He scratched the feathers on her head, which she enjoyed. He thought very carefully about what had happened and asked himself, "_If I were Hermione, what would I do?_" He considered all of his possible options. The one thing he was missing was something upon which to write and something with which to write. "_If I had my wand..._" he thought but stopped mid thought at the realization his wand, his father's cloak and all of his Hogwarts belongings were in his trunk in the boot. "Shit," he said aloud.

-oOoOo-

Emma was hugging Dan and Hermione for all she was worth. Had Dan not stopped and hadn't pulled her down as the explosion-launched wreckage ripped into their car, she would have been killed, Dan would likely have been seriously injured and Hermione... Hermione would have been without anyone to hold her as she lost not only her mother but her best friend, too. She thought that Hermione was in denial at the moment as she only seemed mildly upset. "_Is she in shock or does she know something?_"

"Honey, Can you tell me why you're not more upset with your friend being in that," Emma gestured towards the burning wreckage the emergency services were currently dousing with foam and water.

"Harry's safe. In fact, I imagine he isn't even injured," Hermione said.

Emma looked up at Dan, who also had a concerned look on his face.

"Kitten, are you trying to tell us Harry is in a better place now?" Dan asked calmly, thinking perhaps Hermione was working from a completely different frame of reference.

Hermione looked at her father in disbelief. "No, Daddy. Harry isn't dead. I've read all about this sort of thing. It has happened many times in the past when a magical child is in a life-threatening situation, their magic will save them. Don't you remember when I was eight and I walked into the street in front of Mrs. Laurel's car and I bounced off the bumper and landed halfway down the block and started crying? Remember how they didn't even find a bruise?" she looked back and forth between her mother and father.

Dan and Emma were looking at each other with expressions of horror on their face as Hermione reminding them of the incident undid the obliviators' work.

-oooOOOooo-

Emma could see it in her mind's eye as if the day was happening all over again. When the white Volvo sedan had struck Hermione and she flew through the air, Emma's life ended. Her little girl. Everything she and Dan had been working for. Her precious little baby. Was standing up. Was pointing at the car. Looked at Emma. And started crying. Dan had heard the squeal of tires and ran to the street and watched as Hermione was surrounded by a golden halo and how she and the halo had bounced, like a beach ball and came to rest with Hermione standing in the middle of the road and pointing at the car. Both Dan and Emma had run to her and picked her up. They were both hysterical and overwhelmingly happy. Then the strange men had come and had waved their sticks in their faces. "Great Aunt Minerva," the man told her, "is babysitting your little girl and she will be coming home shortly. You should go put fresh sheets on her bed for her," the man had said, swirling his stick in front of her face.

-oooOOOooo-

They were standing next to the car, looking at the destruction in front of them.

"Those bastards!" Emma screamed in rage.

"Em!" Dan said pointedly, "Ermione-hay is-ay ight-ray ere-hay."

"Mum!" Hermione looked at Emma with wide eyes, having never ever heard her mother swear before.

Emma looked at Hermione and covered her mouth in embarrassment the mumbled "I'm sorry, Honey," through her hand.

Dan looked at Emma with a raised eyebrow then turned to Hermione. "So, Kitten, where would they take Harry if he..." he stopped as he noticed the tightness around Hermione's eyes and the minor quivering of her chin. These were tell-tale signs she was about to begin crying hysterically. "Um...sorry...since he is okay, do you think the emergency services people will take him to the hospital?"

"Yes, Daddy. St. Mungo's! We should go there as soon as we can!" Hermione said excitedly, trying to push the growing sliver of doubt about Harry's safety out of her mind.

Just then, several men appeared, literally out of no where, dressed in robes. They saw Dan, Emma and Hermione and were in the process of waving their wands when Hermione yelled.

"Wait! I am a Hogwarts student!" she yelled at the closest man in the yellow and blue robes of the Obliviation Squad uniform.

The man paused for a moment and then cast a different spell only at Hermione. He then rushed up to their car. "Right. I am going to tag the three of you so no one else gets a tricky wand hand. There are signs of massive amounts of accidental magic in that mess," he said, pointing to the now foam-covered, wet wreckage. "Do you know who it might have been?" he asked.

"It was my best friend, Harry Potter. He was in his Uncle's car with his aunt and cousin," Hermione said, realizing that, at the very least, three possibly not-so-nice people were dead, but they didn't deserve THAT! Dan saw the signs and scooped his precious little girl up just as the water works got turned on to the "wet jacket, wet shirt and wet undershirt" setting. Hermione was crying for all she was worth.

The obliviator tried comforting Hermione. "There, there now, little one. Your friend is going to be okay. Tell you what," the man looked at Dan and loudly whispered, "Do you know where St Mungo's is, sir?"

Dan nodded.

"Right. Well let me repair your car and get you out of here. Since this little cutie," he said, his attention turning to Hermione for a moment, "is a good friend..."

"My BEST friend!" Hermione interrupted tearfully.

"Yes, well, is his best friend, we're going to take him to St Mungo's to get him checked out, magical exhaustion and all that, and he's likely going to need a place to stay for the summer if his family were in that," he said, again gesturing at the wreckage,

"That would be a good idea, wouldn't it, Kitten?" Dan asked Hermione, rubbing noses with her.

The obliviator looked around and saw his team members working their way towards the wreckage, altering the memories of the people they passed as they moved forward. He then began quietly repairing Dan's BMW. He may have overpowered the spells a bit much because the car looked like it had just come off the showroom lot when he was done.

"Okay, sir. If you and the family would step back into your car and get turned around and take the next bypass, you'll be straight into London," the obliviator said.

"The next bypass goes to Paddington," Dan said, looking at the obliviator with a quizzical expression on his face.

"No wonder I always get lost bicycling," the obliviator mumbled. "Well, lets just get you turned around and back towards London," he said.

Considering the oncoming traffic was completely blocked by emergency services, it was trivial to get turned around and the time it took them to get to St Mungos was relatively short.

-oOoOo-

When Petunia died, the wards at Number Four Privet Drive began decaying at an accelerated rate, collapsing completely within an hour of Petunia's death. By the time they fell and the sensitive silver and platinum instruments in the headmaster's office, which were tied to the blood wards, were sounding their alarm, the headmaster had already left for a well-deserved week off. Three days after the wards collapsed, the magic in the instruments was exhausted. They remained silent when the headmaster returned and it was another week before he checked them. Harry Potter was missing.

-oOoOo-

Harry sat in his bubble of yellow light for fifty two minutes before he could here a voice which seemed to be directed specifically at him.

By this time, Harry had taken Hedwig out of her cage, removed the small container of owl treats from the drawer at the bottom of the cage and was generally trying to ponder the results of the limited experimentation he had done. When Harry had attempted to push against the shield bubble, as he now referred to it, his hand had met firm resistance and the shield bubble was slightly warm to the touch. When he had attempted to shove the remains of Hedwig's cage through the shield bubble, at first there had been a slight resistance, but as he applied more pressure, the cage pushed through and the shield bubble seemed to brighten where the cage pushed through. As he was pushing the cage with his arm, he had felt a slight increase on the force pushing against his magic. When he pulled the cage back from the shield, the force seemingly pushing on his magic lessened, however, the bit of the cage he had pushed through was now gone. It was almost as if the shield had been consuming the cage.

"You're safe now, Lad. Unclench your magic so we can get done with this and get you to safety," Harry heard in a muffled voice. He waited a few moments and he could hear the voice again talking to him again.

"There's a cute, little, brown-haired girl waiting for you at St. Mungo's but we need you to unclench your magic so we can get you out of there and get you to St Mungo's." the voice said.

Harry looked at Hedwig. "What do you think I should do, girl?" he asked the bird half-seriously.

Hedwig looked at Harry and hooted then spread her wings a bit as if to indicate she wanted to fly.

"Come on, Lad. We're holding up the muggles and I know that little girl said you were her best friend. Come on. Be a good lad and unclench your magic," the muffled voice said, sounding frustrated.

Harry closed his eyes and searched for the pressure in his magic he now felt only slightly. He spent a minute or two looking for it until he seemed to sense it. The image that popped into his head was that of a garden hose with a trickle of water flowing out of it. He imagined turning the valve to turn it off. At the sudden, significant increase in noise, he opened his eyes to see Hedwig take off in flight. He was sitting in the remains of the car seat which now seemed to be partially embedded in a block of badly twisted metal.

"Oh thank Merlin!" a man in a yellow and blue robe exclaimed, looking at Harry. There were three men and one woman standing there as well in blue and yellow robes and two men in red robes.

The man who had spoken looked at Harry. "Let's get you out of there and off to St Mungo's," he said with a smile and reached a hand in to Harry.

Harry looked around the area he was now standing. There was bits and pieces of metal scattered all around. All of it was blackened and charred. The road itself had melted away in places. There was no sign of his aunt, uncle or cousin.

"Where's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia?" he asked of the man in the blue and yellow robe.

"Don't you worry about them, Lad. My name is Malcolm. Come on out of there now. We just need to get you to St. Mungo's to get you checked. Have you ever apparated before?" the man asked.

"I don't think so, sir," Harry said nervously.

"Well, not a problem. Just close your eyes and we'll be there in a wink," the man said.

"Wait sir. My wand and my father's cloak, all of my Hogwarts belongings were in my trunk," Harry said, looking back at the wreckage he had stepped from.

The obliviator looked back at the wreckage and then at his team. "Can you lot see if anything of the boy's trunk made it through? I am going to go ahead and take him to St. Mungo's," he said.

The woman in the yellow and blue robes looked at Harry. "I'll see if I can find anything, Malcolm. Get going before you have to carry him," she said.

Malcolm looked down at Harry. "Shall we go then? Tanya will look after your trunk for you and bring it to St Mungo's when she finds it," he said.

Harry just nodded. "Right. Hold on tightly to my arm and close your eyes," Malcolm said with a smile.

Harry did as he was asked. He felt pressure against his magic again, but this time it was different. This seemed to be embracing his magic as opposed to attacking it. The noise level became considerably quieter, the smell of ozone, petrol and smoke was gone and the light level changed. Harry opened his eyes.

"See. That wasn't so bad," Malcolm said, a bit of surprise in his voice.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, looking around. The room was brightly lit, the walls were a subdued but bright pastel blue. There were various people behind a counter dressed in white or blue robes. On the other side of the room there were what appeared to be comfortable chairs with a few people sitting in them.

"We're at St Mungo's to get you looked after, Lad. We want to make sure you're not hurt," Malcolm said, looking down at Harry with a friendly smile.

Malcolm led him up to the counter where a young woman dressed in white greeted them. "Obliviator Jacobs, how are you doing today?" she asked then looked down at Harry. "And who is this handsome young boy?"

"I'm doing well, Miss Martins," he said then leaned in to whisper to the mediwitch. "This is..." Malcolm was about to say when everyone turned at a shout.

"HARRY!" Harry heard and turned just in time to be impacted by a brown-haired missile. He tensed until he realised who it was.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed as the air was about crushed out of his lungs, his arms pinned to his sides.

Hermione had tears freely running down her face. "I was so worried about you! Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" she said in one breath, overwhelmed that her friend was safe and alive.

Dan and Emma had followed Hermione at a more sedate pace and were now standing behind her with enough distance so Harry wouldn't feel trapped by them.

"Give him some air, Kitten, so he can answer you," Dan said gently with a reassuring smile.

Hermione released Harry from the hug and wiped the tears from her face. "Look at me. I must be a right mess," she said.

Harry smiled. "No, you're very pretty, Hermione," he said. She beamed at him and hugged him once more. "_It feels so nice when she does that. I feel safe with her arms around me. I wonder if she'd want me to put my arms around her?"_

Hermione had her eyes closed as she hugged Harry. "_I so wish he would hug me back. Maybe I can be the one to teach him how to hug! Yes! Now all I need to do is talk Mum and Daddy into Harry staying with us this summer. Daddy's going to be the tough one,"_ she thought.

Harry suddenly felt something rushing towards him from all sides. It felt enormous, as if all of the air in the surrounding city was coming at him as if he were a giant vacuum cleaner. And then he felt as if he was full but whatever it was still came at him. More and more. Even though Hermione's arms were wrapped around him, he felt as if he was vibrating with the inrush. After a few moments, he felt as if he was about to burst with all of this whatever it was. He knew he couldn't take much more. "_Don't let it hurt Hermione or her parents,_" was his last thought as everything went black.

Malcolm was about to interrupt to see if Harry wanted his friends to join him in the examination room when Harry suddenly collapsed with a pulse of white light coming from him, momentarily blinding anyone looking at him. The wards at Privet Drive had fallen.

-oOoOo-

A gong sounded loudly in Elector Ironclaw's office. He looked at the wall of gongs and noted with surprise and anticipation the name engraved on the one which had just sounded. The Potter heir was finally locatable using Goblin magic! Ironclaw was very familiar with the account but followed procedure and opened a drawer to review the file on House Potter. The previous Lord of the House had been killed in 1981 and the heir apparent had disappeared within an hour of the Lord's passing. Ever since the disappearance, Gringott's had been unable to find Harry because he had been hidden from foreign magics.

When Harry had come to Gringott's the prior year the teller failed to notify his superior immediately as per policy, so the Most Valued Client account manager had missed the opportunity to meet with Harry to execute the Late Lord's will and carry out the rites of succession. The teller's disciplinary action had been carried out in front of a gathering of all tellers in the London branch to insure there would never be a mistake of this magnitude made again.

Ironclaw began composing the instructions to the MVC account manager and others within Gringott's who were responsible or had interest in House Potter, communicating to them that Harry Potter had appeared on their locators showing him at St Mungo's in the children's ward.

-oOoOo-

Hermione blinked several times to try to clear the spots before her eyes. Although her eyes had been closed, her vision was still a bit dazzled. She was still holding on to Harry but his falling had pulled her to the floor as well. She moved to a sitting position and cradled Harry's head in her lap.

Dan had been five metres from Hermione and Harry and had watched the boy's closed eye indecision while Hermione had hugged him. Then suddenly everything was white and then black. His vision slowly returned to normal so he was not panicking. Yet.

Emma had been about to give Dan a hug when Dan's eyes, face, hair and the wall behind him suddenly became very brightly lit. His pupils contracted to pinpoints. She turned around just in time to see Harry bonelessly fall to the floor, pulling Hermione with him. She looked around the room and noticed several people appeared to be crouching with their wands drawn. Interestingly, five of these were wearing the red robes of the magical policemen and two of them wore the yellow and blue robes of the man who had fixed Dan's car. She noted Harry was the only one in the entire room to have collapsed.

"Gentlemen," Emma said in a normal tone of voice. All seven crouching men pointed their wands at her. "If you will close your eyes, but not tightly, and count to one hundred, your vision should improve," she explained, realizing the likely cause of Dan's rapidly contracting pupils.

Dan had, of course, already closed his eyes, knowing that rubbing them would only exacerbate the issue. All seven of the men closed their eyes, two of them counting aloud.

Eventually all seven stood up and put their wands away. Malcolm being one of the last as he had been looking directly at Harry as well. Once his vision returned to normal he looked about and saw that Harry had collapsed.

"BONNIE!" Malcolm shouted.

The mediwitch ran over to where Hermione sat on the floor cradling Harry's head. Bonnie was already casting diagnostic spells on Harry, Hermione watching her and listening to the incantations. Hermione noticed Bonnie casting the same spell twice and then a third time.

"Excuse me, Miss," Hermione said, "what does casting that spell multiple times do?" she asked.

Bonnie looked at Hermione and smiled. "You're a bright girl. I had never seen the results of that spell indicate what it was indicating, so I cast it a second time and a third time to insure I hadn't cast it incorrectly," she said. She stood and looked at Malcolm. "Malcolm, could you pick the boy up and carry him. I don't want any stray magic around him while he's recuperating." She then looked down at Hermione as Malcolm gently wrapped Harry in his arms and lifted him. Bonnie offered her hand to Hermione, who accepted the assistance in standing. "Now, would you and your parents," she said turning her attention to Dan and Emma, "like to stay with him for a bit?"

Hermione, too, looked to her parents. "_Oh please! Please! PLEASE!"_ her look said to Dan.

"Why don't we let them get him situated in his bed and then we can go in and see him," Dan said.

Hermione hugged Dan. "Daddy! You're the best!" she said.

Bonnie smiled at the interchange. "He should be resting comfortably in a few minutes. I need to look after getting some potions ordered for him but once that is done I shall come straight back here to take you to see him," she said earnestly to Hermione.

Hermione nodded and a quiet, "Thank you, Miss," could be heard.

Bonnie went back to the desk and wrote down the potions she felt Harry needed as well as her findings on the parchment she had started. A house elf appeared and Bonnie gave him a copy of the list of potions she wanted for Harry.

"**Patient shows signs of malnourishment, physical abuse and other signs of parental magical suppression. Unusual readings when measuring core strength; core appears to be significantly under-developed but is growing at an unusually fast rate: greater than one percent per hour; core recharging at more than eight times normal rate for child of this presumed age**," she wrote. She then wrote something that was certain to get the Department of Magical Law Enforcement involved even if the abuse didn't. "**Child appears to have suffered significant, long-term drain of ****magical core not associated with hysterical magical response. Child appears to be maintaining a leeching curse of significant magnitude originating from beneath curse scar on the right forehead; recommend follow-up with Unspeakables to determine counter curse and removal strategy**."

Bonnie then walked over to the senior auror and asked him to read her last notation. The auror read her preliminary report. Anyone looking at the auror could see the anger apparent on his face. He looked at the name of the patient and his face contorted even further, turning red. "I'm contacting Director Bones," he said, looking at Bonnie, handing the report back to her. She nodded and then turned to Hermione and her parents, who had followed this interaction with curiosity. The auror headed to the floo.

"Shall I take you to look in on your friend?" she asked with a smile.

Hermione smiled. "Yes, please!"

Bonnie led Hermione, Dan and Emma down a corridor with rooms on either side. She came to a closed door and entered. Harry was laying on the bed in the room with a sheet covering him. Malcolm was sitting in the only chair in the room reading the Daily Prophet. He stood as the four entered the room.

"Thank you, Malcolm," Bonnie said with a smile as she hung the parchment board on the hook attached to the foot board of the bed. "Let's get your report finished up at the desk." She and Malcolm left the room.

Dan sat in the chair and watched the interaction between Hermione and the unconscious boy in the bed.

Emma waited until the door closed and looked at the parchment board Bonnie had left behind.

Hermione stood at the bed and held Harry's hand in her hands. She began quietly talking to him, telling him how she had worried about him and how much his friendship meant to her. Dan's ears particularly perked up when he heard "troll" and "nearly killed me."

Emma removed the parchment board from the hook and handed it to Dan. She had also been listening to Hermione's quiet, one-sided conversation.

Dan read the report then read it again. He then handed it back to Emma, a grim look on his face.

Emma placed the board back on the hook and moved to stand behind Hermione, who was still chatting softly with Harry, telling him about various instances of accidental magic she had performed before getting the letter from Hogwarts.

Although Dan had picked up on Hermione's emotional state because he had been focusing primarily on her, Emma was somewhat surprised when she put her hands gently on Hermione's shoulder, Hermione had looked up with tears streaks down her face and was still crying.

"What ever is the matter, Honey?" Emma asked. Hermione turned and desperately held onto her mother.

"Is he going to be better? Please tell me he'll wake up soon. He's...he...I don't know what I'll do without Harry!" she said, but buried her face into Emma.

Emma could feel the sobs Hermione was experiencing. Dan stood and then knelt down next to his little girl. "Kitten, Harry's..." his thought was interrupted by Hermione moving like lightning, grabbing his neck and crying into his shoulder.

"Daddy!" Hermione cried out.

Whether it was a character flaw or simply something in his emotional construction, Dan never could say no to Hermione when she was crying. He understood about every third word she was saying.

"Harry...wake...up? Harry...get...better?" was about as coherent as he could understand.

"Oh Kitten. Who was it that killed a troll to protect you?" he asked and gave her a little squeeze. She continued to cry but the shoulder-shaking sobs ended. "Who was it that kept going when you couldn't go with him?" he gently prodded. Her crying lessened again and her arms relaxed the hug but didn't release it. "Who was it that lived through staying with those awful, awful people?" he asked. Hermione pushed away from the hug but kept her hands on Dan's shoulders and looked into his eyes. Her crying had stopped and she had a slightly betrayed look on her face.

"Daddy! That was a private conversation between Harry and I," she said, a little indignantly.

"That may be, Kitten, but I won't forget the answers to those questions. Who is it that, in your words, 'constantly beats the odds' and always makes it back?" Dan asked gently.

Hermione got a shy, embarrassed look on her face. "Harrrrrry," she said, drawing it out.

"That's right, Kitten. I am not going to lie to you and tell you he is going to be just fine when he wakes up," he said, pausing to look her in the eye, "What I will tell you is that Harry is clearly a fighter. A survivor. No matter what, I have my very highest hopes that he will wake up and want his best friend here when he does.

Hermione now wore an ear-to-ear smile as she wiped the remaining, unshed tears from her eyes, just as the mediwitch walked back into the room with five goblins, four of whom were carrying swords in scabbards on their belts. All of them wore goblin-sized plate mail sans helmets.

The one without a sword looked at the three occupants of the room who were not in the bed. "Who are you and what business do you have here?" he demanded.

Dan was about to speak when the goblin cut him off. "Not you, Muggle. He stood within arms reach of Hermione and looked at her. "What is your business with our client?" he asked Hermione.

"Harry is my best friend and when we saw what happened..." she began but was cut off by the goblin.

"You witnessed this accident which befell our client?" he asked, reaching into a pouch dangling from his armour and removing what appeared to be a cricket-ball sized ruby. He tapped on it twice with his finger and it floated up into the center of the room and began glowing with a warm, inviting light which illuminated the walls from all of its surfaces.

Hermione looked at the now-floating gem with some trepidation but could not take her eyes from the gem. "Yes, I witnessed some of the accident. My Daddy saw the whole thing!" she said. "I was scared that something had happened to My...to Harry and then there was an explosion and Daddy pushed us all down and then the rescue people came and put out the fire and then the ministry people came and almost erased my parents' memory and then they found Harry and the obliviator, Malcolm, fixed Daddy's car and then we came here and I saw Harry out front and hugged him and then he fell down and now we're in here," Hermione finished, and was able to look down at the image the gem had been projecting. Emma had been watching the, for lack of a better word, movie playing beneath the gem as Hermione spoke. While Hermione had left out various things likely she had not seen, what she had just watched was a nearly perfect motion picture of what had happened, including a few things that she knew neither Hermione nor her had seen. The device must, she thought, be gathering the information from Dan and me as well.

"And Harry Potter is your best friend?" the goblin asked.

Hermione once more felt compelled to look up at the gem. "Harry Potter is my best friend," she began and continued to tell of nearly every interaction she had with Harry from the first moment on the Express when she had been looking for Trevor, Neville Longbottom's toad, until a few moments ago when she had spoken with her father about Harry recovering. The picture had jumped from time to time, and it did take her some time to talk, but Emma and Dan had their eyes watching the projection the gem created, taking special note of Harry killing the troll, the detention in the forbidden forest, Harry and Hermione's interactions with Draco Malfoy, Hermione's frustration with Ron on many occasions and many other interactions. "...and then Harry fainted and the mediwitch was kind enough to let us stay with Harry in this room and I told Harry all the things I hadn't told him before about me," Hermione said.

Although the expression on the goblin's face was frightening Emma and was making Dan think he was going to pull Hermione behind him to protect her from this goblin who looked about to eat her, Bonnie the mediwitch had a small smile on her face.

It was clear, when he spoke next, the goblin was pleased. He spoke now to Dan and Emma. "It is a pleasant experience we so rarely have to speak with a wizard or witch who is completely honest in their dealings with The People. This speaks well to your child rearing skills and your character. It is unfortunate you do not have magic of your own," the goblin said, his expression returning to the normal goblin sneer. He then looked down and towards the guards standing on his left. "Gutripper, Skullstomper, you two are to remain with our client at all times. Should anyone attempt to harm him in any way, you are to take appropriate action in accordance with our treaty with the wizards to see our client remains safe," he said. The two goblins crossed their chest with one arm in acknowledgement. "These three," the goblin said, gesturing towards Dan, Emma and Hermione, "are allowed to come and go as they please after they have been tested for polyjuice and magical coersion. The same is true of this mediwitch and Healer Simmons and Healer Jones. No one else is permitted in this room without my express permission per our current treaty," the goblin finished. He then looked back at Hermione and gave her a slight bow, which Hermione returned, not knowing any better. While the goblin had the same expression on his face now that Dan had been concerned with earlier, he now believed it was the goblin equivalent of a smile. "I will be leaving Firmgrip and Fleshrend outside the door," the other two crossed their chest with one arm, "to insure our client isn't unnecessarily disturbed," the goblin said.

Dan looked at the goblin. "Thank you for protecting Harry with your warriors," he said formally.

The goblin had that look again and shook his head slightly, then laughed for a moment before composing himself once more. "Sir, the Goblin Nation has no military. These four are merely security guards from Gringott's," the goblin said.

"That's right, Daddy. The treaty of seventeen forty-two specifically prevents the Goblin Nation from having a standing militia. The amendment to that treaty signed in seventeen forty three specifically allows the Goblin Nation to..." Hermione thought for a moment to get the precise wording, "...train and employ sufficient security guards to protect wizarding deposits, materials and persons to insure no harm or foul happens to the same or the rightful owners thereof," she said with a small smile. She then turned to the goblin who had been doing all of the speaking. "Excuse me, Sir, but if it isn't considered rude, may I ask your name?" Hermione asked.

"Goblins do not consider such questions rude," he said, meaning questions of honest, friendly curiosity. "My name is Steelfist," he said.

"And you're a security guard?" Emma asked. This question brought another goblin smile to Steelfist's face.

"No, Miss. I am actually an account manager for Gringott's Most Valuable Clients," he answered proudly. "Now, I really must be going. I do believe it has been many years since I have had an enjoyable meeting of equals. Thank you," Steelfist said then once more gave Hermione a slight bow which she returned in kind.

Steelfist snapped his fingers and the large ruby floated down to his hand. He placed it in the pouch he had removed it from and left the room. The two guards remaining in the room saluted him as he left then stood once more at parade rest when the door closed.

"Well, that was interesting," Emma said.

"And informative," Dan said, looking at Hermione. "Tell me, Kitten, why didn't you ever tell your Mum or me about this troll business? Or this Draco boy?"

Hermione had the good grace to blush.

-oOoOo-

Harry was running through the corridors of Hogwarts. Instead of being illuminated brightly by torches along the walls, the corridor was dimly lit by the faces of people in alcoves. Many of the faces he did not recognize. He slowed and looked at the faces. There was Gregory Goyle from Slytherin, one of Draco's henchmen. The next was Vincent Crabbe, Draco's other henchman. The next was Draco Malfoy himself, Harry's nemesis. Draco had a haughty expression on his face and was the first to speak to him. "Where's your little muggleborn now, Potter? Your filthy little whore gotten herself lost?" Draco's words faded out as he continued down the hall. He then ran past Dudley who seemed to be normal until he slid into the corridor as a splash of blood and bone, lighting the corridor red, then reforming as the fat boy only to melt into a puddle of gore again. Harry turned and ran down the corridor. He passed Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Aunt Petunia would fade to black while Uncle Vernon was yelling silently at him, turning purple until he exploded into a cloud of red mist. Harry dived down the hallway as a lorry came out of the alcove Uncle Vernon had been in, only to crash through the alcove Aunt Petunia was standing in. Harry picked himself up and continued running down the hall.

Professor Quarrel was standing in the middle of the corridor, slowly spinning in place, alternating between being a stuttering coward to being Voldemort's slit-nosed face yelling curses. As Harry ran past it his hands reached out on their own and he dragged the burning, pleading body of Professor Quarrel until he disintegrated into a trail of ash. Harry ran on.

The hallway seemed to be getting brighter as he turned a corner. The first person he saw was Professor Snape who yelled, "Fifty points from Gryffindor for running in the halls, Potter!" but his voice, too, faded as he continued running.

All of the other teachers were there as well, the last being Headmaster Dumbledore, who offered him a lemon drop.

He knew he was nearing the end of the hall because his parents were waiting for him, smiling and standing proudly. He began walking towards them. "We're so proud of you, Harry," his father said as his mother knelt down and hugged him. He returned the hug with a fierceness to rival Hermione.

"I wish you could stay here, Harry. But you have to keep going. We'll wait for you when it is your time, but your life has just started. Your life is still yet ahead of you. Know we both love you," His mother said, releasing her hug and standing again.

Harry found he could not talk. "_I want to stay here with you! There's nothing for me there!" _he thought as loudly as he could.

"Harry, there is so much for you in the living world. It's all in front of you," his father said. His parents were now standing in the middle of the corridor. They stepped aside and he saw a bright light glowing down the hall.

"Go to your future, Son. Know we are both prouder than we can say," his mother said.

He walked numbly between them, not wanting to leave them behind.

"We'll always be there for you, Harry," he heard his father voice say, fading into the background.

He shielded his eyes from the light ahead of him. It was so bright. And yet it was welcoming. As he approached, the light became warm and the glaring quality of it faded to soft illumination.

In front of him was a man, a woman and, standing between them with her arms out, Hermione and Hedwig was perched on her shoulder. He ran to get to Hermione's arms. To be hugged by her. But she and her parents seemed to slide away as he ran. He could hear a whisper but it faded with the rushing of the air past his ears. He slowed but still could not make out the words. Finally, he stopped and closed his eyes and waited until the pounding of his chest and the rapid breathing slowed to a rest.

"Harry, call out my name and you will be with me," he heard. "Call to me, Harry. There is so much I need to tell you. There's so much I want you to know. Call out my name."

"Hermione?" he asked quietly but a fierce wind blew down the corridor as he spoke.

"Harry! Call out my name!" she shouted, but it sounded as if she was very far away. Harry opened his eyes and he could see she was much further away and the light was dimming. He could see her reaching for him, her parents trying to help hold her in place so she wouldn't drift further away.

"HERMIONE!" he shouted for all he was worth.

-oOoOo-

"HERMIONE!" Harry shouted and sat up in bed. It was dark, but Harry suddenly had a sleepy, hysterical witch holding on to him for dear life. He wrapped his arms around her and bodily pulled her into the bed with him and held her. "I thought that I had lost you, Hermione," he whispered, his voice filled with emotion, tears running down his cheeks.

The door to the room opened and they heard "Lumos" and the light in the room became brighter. A woman Harry had never seen walked into the room. She looked at Harry and Hermione holding one another and, instead of the shouting he expected, the woman's face grew a smile. Harry took a moment to look around the room and noticed Hermione's parents were also here. Her mother had a smile to match this new woman and Dan smiled as well, but it had a quality of tightness to it.

There were also two armor-clad goblins in the room who were in the process of sheathing their swords.

"Well, young man, welcome back. You gave us a bit of a scare, I can tell you," the woman said as she sat down on the bed and rubbed circles in Hermione's back just above where Harry's arms were wrapped around her.

Feeling a bit self-conscious, he began to take his arms from around Hermione, but she was having none of that. "Hold me, Harry," Hermione said in a frightened soft voice. Harry wrapped his arms around her again and Hermione snuggled into him tighter. "I was so worried about you, Harry," she whispered into his ear.

"There, there, Hermione. He's back with us now," the woman said, then turned her attention to Harry. "You may not remember me, Mr. Potter, but you may call me Bonnie and I am here to check on you now that you've woken up," she said then turned her attention back to Hermione and softened her voice, "and I can't do that while Miss Granger is wrapped around you."

Hermione relaxed her hug and looked up at Bonnie with a guilty look. "I'm sorry, it's just..." she said.

"I know dear. Now why don't you go wait on your father's lap while I check out Harry," Bonnie suggested.

Hermione nodded and wiped her eyes. She then realised where she was laying. In bed. With Harry. She looked at Mum, who was smiling at her, a tear leaking down her face here and there and then looked over at Daddy. When she looked at him, he raised his eyebrow at her then smiled and opened his arms.

She climbed down from the bed and walked over and sat on Daddy's knee. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "it's okay, Kitten. I am not upset with you. I am happy your friend has woken up." He then kissed her on her cheek as she reclined against him and rested her head against his. Mum sat down on Daddy's other knee and kissed her then kissed Daddy and watched as the mediwitch checked on Harry.

"Now let's see what we have," Bonnie said and waved her wand over and around Harry, who was now sitting up in bed again. She cast a few more spells and then looked thoughtfully at Harry.

"May I call you Harry?" Bonnie asked. Harry simply nodded.

"Harry, do you know where you are?" she asked.

Harry thought for a moment. "I remember a man in yellow and blue robes..." he paused, then looked over at Hermione, sitting with her mum and dad. When she saw he was looking, her smile lit his world. "I remember a hallway and running and my mum and dad telling me to keep going and then I ran to Hermione," he said, tears flowing once more. He looked over at the three of them just to make sure they were still there.

"But you don't remember where you are at or what happened?" she asked, her smile just a bit smaller, Harry noticed.

He shook his head then remembered, "Wait. Malcolm...Malcolm told me he was taking me to St Mungo's," Harry said with uncertainty. Bonnie nodded at him. "I remember someone named Tanya," Harry looked out the window, trying to remember. He looked back with a smile suddenly. "She was going to bring me my trunk with my wand and my Dad's cloak!" he exclaimed happily.

Bonnie turned her head and looked at the goblins standing at the door. One of them nodded to her and she turned back to Harry. "Well, it seems she brought them to some friends of yours for safe keeping until you are well enough to leave here," she said, her smile returning in full force, putting Harry's mind more at ease. "Do you remember anything else, Harry?"

Harry looked out the window once more. Bonnie looked at him with some concern. Suddenly there was a soft chime that sounded in the room. Harry looked at Bonnie and Bonnie looked at the goblins. "Please have him wait outside until I ask him to come in. I need to insure our patient is well," she said in a tone that indicated she would broach no argument. One of the goblins opened the door and left. Bonnie turned back to Harry who was looking at her, tears running down his face. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"I had to grab Hedwig! It was too quick!" He had remembered seeing the lorry and thinking of his owl.

"It's not your fault, Harry," Bonnie said soothingly.

Harry was hysterical. "But it was! He called Hermione a...and I yelled at him. He turned his head and then the headlights and I grabbed Hedwig and...!" his words became incoherent. Bonnie reached over and held him. He wrapped his arms around her and desperately held her.

"Harry. It wasn't your fault. None of it was your fault. It was an accident," Bonnie said to him and looked at Hermione, Dan and Emma. To Emma, she gave an additional look to and gestured ever so slightly with her head indicating Emma should trade places with her.

Emma walked over to the bed, followed by Hermione and Dan. Emma sat on the other side of Harry and pulled him to her. Harry let go of Bonnie and wrapped his arms around Emma and continued to cry. Bonnie stood.

Emma's heart was breaking for this boy who had been through so much. "Harry, shhhhhh. Harry, it isn't your fault. No matter what you think. No matter what you remember. Their passing wasn't caused by what you did." She held him as Hermione sat where Bonnie had been sitting and hugged Harry as well. Dan motioned for Bonnie to follow him out of the room.

As the door closed, Dan wheeled on Bonnie and looked at her questioningly. "Miss Martins..."

"Please, Mr. Granger. Call me Bonnie," she said.

Dan nodded. "Please call me Dan." Bonnie nodded.

"What is going to happen to him now? From everything Hermione has told us, his home life before the accident was not a good one and it would seem he has no other living family," Dan said, his anxiety about Harry's future clear in his voice.

Bonnie was about to speak when another voice intruded.

"That, Mr. Granger, is my responsibility," Dan heard. He turned around and was surprised at what he saw. Looking at Dan from five metres away was a goblin dressed in what appeared to be an extremely fine seventeenth century suit, complete with monocle. The goblin closed the distance and offered his hand to shake. Dan reached out to shake the goblin's hand and instead found his wrist being gripped, which he likewise did to the goblin. "I am Elector Ironclaw and the heir to House Potter is now my responsibility by treaty with the Crown." Ironclaw looked to Bonnie. "I see you are the mediwitch Steelfist trusts with the care of our charge. How is the Potter heir doing, Miss Martins?"

Bonnie looked a bit frightened. "Sir, I am not, that is I would think someone of your stature would rather be speaking with the Director of the Hospital," she said, clearly unsure of herself.

"Miss Martins, let me assure you that I have already spoken with Director Wilkins and explained to him his responsibilities as outlined by the treaty," Ironclaw's face twisted into a feral grin, "needless to say, the Director saw fit to provide me any resource I need to insure the Potter heir is properly taken care of, up to and including burning this building to the ground with everyone in it, if it would insure the safety of our charge." He then leaned in and whispered loudly enough for Bonnie and Dan to hear him, "Not that we would do that. Bad for business, you know, but your Director was being a bit thick," Ironclaw laughed for a moment.

"Now that we've set expectations, how is your patient, Miss Martins," Ironclaw asked again.

Bonnie looked at him and smiled. She hadn't liked Wilkins since he pinched her on the bum during her interview. She spoke in conversational tones. "Harry is awake. Previously his magical core had been unusually small for a boy his age but was growing rather rapidly. It is now nearly the size it should be but is still not slowed in its growth. His core has nearly fully recharged and it looks as if his core is going to remain full, unless he casts hysterical magic again, until his core stops growing. He is malnourished but now that he is awake, I am planning to give him some potions to help offset some of the conditions caused by the malnourishment. He has a curse scar on his forehead which has a leeching curse behind it which draws magic from him. I suspect this is the reason his core is so small. It leeches more than half his magic from him. There also seemed to be some other curse or spell which is no longer affecting him, but has been affecting him for some time. Based on the events from four days ago, when he came in, whatever curse or spell it was seems to have been tied to one or more members of his now-deceased guardians," she said clinically. He also has several old injuries which were never healed correctly, including an incorrectly set broken right femur, all three bones in his left arm. His right arm being forcibly removed from its socket and forcibly restored to its proper place. His teeth will need extensive work as it appears no one has ever examined or restored them. He was not provided with a restorative drought to repair his eyes. It is not clear if he is allergic to the ingredients or if it was never given. We also need to set up a dietary regimen for him so that he is getting enough calories for his body to begin building itself properly."

"Is my client aware of any of this information?" Ironclaw asked.

"Not as such. I am certain he is aware of the causes of some of his injuries, but not that we know about all of them. We wanted to insure he has recovered from his magical drain and any physical injuries caused by the accident," she said.

"And what are the results of those tests?" Ironclaw asked.

"I have not had the time to complete those tests yet as our mutual charge is somewhat emotional at the moment and is being reassured the tragic event which caused his current situation is not his fault," Bonnie said with the force of a lioness.

Ironclaw held his hands in front of him in a remarkably human gesture. "Now, now Miss Martins. The boy's emotional health is just as, if not more important than, his physical and magical health. The more powerful an individual is, the more truth there is to this and I suspect our charge will be powerful in realms outside of the financial holdings we manage for him," Ironclaw said.

"I will give you a few more minutes with him, Miss Martins. If, Mr. Granger, I could take some of your time to discuss the topic you originally raised?" Ironclaw looked at Dan and raised his eyebrow in a very un-goblin fashion. Dan nodded.

"Thank you, Bonnie, for taking such good care of Harry," Dan said sincerely to Bonnie. As she opened the door she nodded and closed the door behind her.

"Now then, Mr Granger, I have the authority to negotiate and approve business contracts for my clients," Ironclaw said with a goblin smile.

-oOoOo-

Harry had stopped crying and was just sitting between Emma and Hermione as Bonnie walked back into the room. "Excuse me, Hermione, could you go sit in the chair while I check on Harry? Your magic would throw off my readings," Bonnie said nicely to Hermione with a smile.

"Harry, I will be right over there," she said, looking at Harry and pointing to the chair. She then gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and backed over to the chair, never taking her eyes from Harry.

Harry looked up at Bonnie. "Now Harry, I am going to be checking some things we found were different than they normally are and I need to check you to be certain of those things? Okay?" Bonnie asked.

Harry smiled and nodded at her.

"Okay. Here goes," she said and began waving her wand around and chanting. Every time her wand neared Emma, the readings would get thrown off. After the fourth time of this happening, she ran her wand over Emma and when it got in proximity of her lower abdomen, Bonnie smiled. "Mrs Granger, could you please go sit with Hermione? Is that okay, Harry?"

Emma looked at Bonnie quizzically, seeing her little smile. When she sat down in the chair and held Hermione on her lap, the two chatted softly, but neither of them let their eyes leave Harry.

Harry nodded and looked at Hermione happily sitting on her mum's lap. Bonnie continued to run her wand over Harry, and she still had a small smile on her face. Harry glanced up at Bonnie and saw her smile was different somehow. He asked her quietly, "Bonnie, why are you smiling? Is it because I am doing better?"

She looked down at Harry then her smile bloomed as she leaned down and whispered something into Harry's ear. Harry listened and could not believe it. "Really?" he asked loudly.

Smile still in place, Bonnie nodded, "For real and for true!" she exclaimed right back.

"That's...that's...that's...Amazing!" Harry said. Then he looked at Bonnie conspiratorially, "Can I be the one who tells them? Please?" Harry whispered loudly.

"That sounds like the right way to do it, Harry," Bonnie said then got a sombre look on her face for a moment. _"This boy has been through the worst barbs, thorns and thistles this world can throw at him and he is happily excited to be allowed to give happy news. It feels as if I have just handed him the world and all he wants to do with it is good," _she thought. "How are you feeling, Harry?" she asked the now smiling boy.

"I'm feeling well!" he said excitedly. Then his face fell and he looked on the verge of tears again.

Bonnie knelt down in front of him. "Harry, what's wrong?"

"I was going to say I felt well enough to go home, but now I have nowhere to go and no one who wants me," he said and began crying again. Emma knew her role clearly and walked over and held Harry while he cried.

Because he was crying, he did not notice Dan, Ironclaw and a woman wearing a monocle enter the room. Dan noticed the room seemed to get larger as even with two goblin 'security guards', Emma, Hermione, the two beds the hospital had provided for Hermione, Dan and Emma, the large couch, the reading chair, Bonnie, Ironclaw and the woman he had been introduced outside as Amelia Bones, the room was still comfortable and not at all cramped. He also noted the goblin 'security guards' had their hands on the hilts of their swords. Finally, he noticed something which had nagged at his mind earlier. Harry was hugging Emma. Harry had hugged Hermione. Harry was initiating contact.

Amelia slowly removed her wand and handed it to Elector Ironclaw. The two goblins seemed to ease the grip on their swords. "Ladies and gentlemen, some of you I met in the hallway, let me introduce myself to you. I am Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," she said, looking around the room until her eyes set on Harry in close proximity to Hermione. Harry had fear in his eyes. "_She's here to take me away for killing them. I'll never see Hermione again!"_ he thought, his eyes filling with tears and his chin beginning to quiver.

"Harry, don't be upset. I am here to let you know that the DMLE is not filing any charges against you or the Grangers," Amelia said. The relief on his face was clearly evident.

"I do have some things to discuss which I, without your permission I'm sorry to say, discussed with Mr Granger here and Elector Ironclaw," Amelia said, indicating both men. Dan had a smile for Harry. Harry had seen a goblin smile before so he was not afraid of a goblin looking like he was going to eat someone whole.

"Were you talking about Harry's best interest?" Hermione asked, "Because it seems to me too many people make decisions about My...that is Harry without talking to him about it first, if ever!" she said in anger.

Amelia took no offence at either the words nor the tone. "I do have Harry's best interest at heart and the reason I apologised was because I had not consulted with him but intend to do so now. I will have no say where he goes, I am here, by treaty, to simply offer advice and counselling as an individual of high regard with The People and to insure anyone who has violated any of our laws broken not specifically covered by treaty is punished appropriately. Let me say that, from the evidence I have at present, none of the occupants of this room at this time are suspected of having committed any such criminal act," then she got a bit of a smile on her face as she turned to Harry, "including killing a troll or a teacher possessed by a dark lord."

Harry stood up from the bed and paused to insure he was stable. Hermione had her hand on his shoulder to give him some stability. Once he knew he was able to stand, he grabbed a hold of Hermione and gave her a hug. "_Harry is hugging me!_" was all Hermione could think while she wrapped her arms around him.

All of the adults looked at the two children hugging. Emma happened to look up at Dan, who had a smile indicating he was the cat that caught the canary and Emma was waiting any minute now for him to start spitting little yellow feathers out of his mouth.

"Be that as it may, Mr Potter, we need your assistance in a decision which will have an impact on our world. We will give you the best information we have and will ask you to decide what to do. There is one caveat to this," Amelia said, "you must first agree to a ceremony called 'The Rites of Succession' after which you shall be given a ring to wear. If the rites are completed and you place the ring on your finger and you are not the heir to House Potter, you will die," Amelia paused for a moment as Hermione put her fist in her mouth and bit down, even though a gasp escaped her. "If the ring accepts you, you become Lord Harry James Potter and all of the responsibilities that position entails. If you wish to abdicate your responsibilities, you will be given the contents of your trust vault and not another knut, sickle or galleon of yours may be taken to Gringott's."

Harry turned to the goblin who had entered the room. "Do I know you, Sir?" Harry asked.

Ironclaw looked at Harry and gave Harry a slight bow. Harry returned the bow deeper and upon standing said, "May your gold multiply."

Ironclaw was shocked but said the other half of the honorific of The People, "and may the gold of your enemies line your vaults." Ironclaw gathered himself then said, "I am Elector Ironclaw of the European vaults and branches of Gringott's. I speak with the voice of London Manager Ragnok and Guilder Gringott himself," Ironclaw stated formally.

"What is your role, Mr Ironclaw? Are you here to help me or are you here to 'protect' me?" Harry said, looking at the security guards who were clearly under Ironclaw's orders.

Ironclaw laughed. "Well played, Heir Potter. I am here to tell you that you will not die after the Rites of Succession and that the ring will recognize you and name you Lord Potter. I am here to discuss your accounts, your expanding businesses, your investments and your responsibilities, two of which have a higher priority," he said. "I am also here to discuss your parents arrangements with Gringott's with regard to your person and your future and how your becoming Lord Potter modifies those arrangements. I am also here as a representative of Gringott's to provide you any services you may wish which are within the laws of the Ministry or the treaty between the Crown and The People."

"What do I need to do for the Rites of Succession?" Harry asked as he pictured all sorts of dangerous and lethal tasks he would have to complete in the jungle with dragons or worse harassing him

Ironclaw open the satchel he was carrying and withdrew a short knife, a silver bowl, a quill and a stack of parchment. He set these on the bedside table.

"The parchment is used to record the names of any others in the family who have claim as well as any other family line for which you have a claim. The quill has been spelled to write the names. The bowl will collect your blood. You will allow your blood to drip into the bowl until the blood in the bowl turns black. The knife is spelled to cut open the ball of your thumb without pain, Your thumb will heal, again painlessly, once the blood turns black," he explained, handing Harry the bowl, which Harry set on the bed and then Ironclaw handed Harry the knife.

"Um, sir. That is may I call you Ironclaw?" Harry asked and Ironclaw nodded. "How much blood will it take?"

"I have never seen the Rites of Succession require more than an inkwell full of blood," he said with a laugh. Then he turned to look up at Harry. "That one took four pieces of parchment and was a real mess. By the time the ring was ready to be used, most of the names on the list had died. Tragic. I suppose, since a shallow, fawning boot licker who felt the need to rise above his station was the person the ring finally accepted," Ironclaw said and just about spit on the floor.

Harry looked at Hermione and said, "Sounds like Malfoy."

"Oh? Do you know him? Complete boot licker, terribly sensitive to his place and putting others in theirs," Ironclaw said.

"We know Draco Malfoy," Harry said.

"Ah yes, the heir apparent to the Malfoy family purse," Ironclaw said then looked at Harry. "Do you want to do this, Sir?" he asked.

Harry answered by slicing the ball of his thumb unintentionally to the bone. The knife was quite sharp. All he felt was the pressure and a bit of tingling. The blood poured into the bowl. When the bowl was mostly full, the blood in it turned black and Harry could feel the wound seal from the bone up, as if something was knitting the wound back together. He looked at the process and watched as the thumb healed. Once his thumb was healed, Harry carefully transferred the bowl to the bedside table.

"Now, Mr. Potter, please place the quill in the bowl and release it," Ironclaw said then whispered something to Gutripper, who left the room. Gutripper returned when the parchment was half covered with writing. Gutripper handed Ironclaw more parchment. Ironclaw walked up to the table where the quill was busily writing and set the stack of parchment down next to the parchment being written on. When the quill finished the first parchment, the quill rose up above the parchment, released a wave of hot air to dry and fix the blood ink. The parchment then turned over onto a stack to the right, a blank piece of parchment came off the stack of blanks on the left and settled beneath the quill and the quill began writing again. This process continued for forty seven pages.

The quill finished dotting an 'I' before drying the last page of blood ink, flipping the parchment onto the stack and settling to lay down on the table on top of the completed stack of parchment. There was a small puff of acrid smoke which came from the bowl and the bowl was once more clean, with no trace of blood ink remaining.

"Well, that was not entirely unexpected," Ironclaw said, "although some of the names of families I read as they were being written you are not likely to achieve the head of since there are many potential heirs before you, some of the families have been without heads since before the death of Gellert Grindelwald." Ironclaw paused for a moment in thought. He then looked up at Harry and took on a countenance which screamed formality, "Do you, Harry James Potter, of your own free will, wish to make the attempt to wear the Ring of Lordship for House Potter, knowing that if the Ring and Magic deny your bid you will be slain and knowing that if the Ring and Magic accept your bid, you freely accept the rights and responsibilities of this stations?"

Harry looked a bit confused as he stood in front of Ironclaw. Hermione leaned over and whispered, "If you want to do this, Harry, a simple 'I accept the risks of my own free will' is all you need to say. If you don't want to do it, all you need to say is 'I decline this opportunity now and for all time' but it is your decision and yours alone, Harry. You'll still be my best friend no matter how you choose," and then she kissed him on the cheek.

Harry looked at Hermione and smiled. He then looked back at Ironclaw, straightened his shoulders and said, "I accept the risks of my own free will."

Ironclaw removed the Ring of Lordship for House Potter from his satchel and placed it in Harry's left hand. Harry took the ring and looked at it, and thought of his father and his mother as he placed the overly-large ring on the ring finger of his right hand. He could feel a pressure pushing on him, similar to the pressure during the accident, but different in that it wasn't attacking him. There was a flash of light centred on the ring as it shrank to fit Harry's finger.

"Gringott's and The People recognise Lord Harry James Potter as the rightful Lord of House Potter," Ironclaw said formally and bowed low to Harry, which Harry returned, remembering something from History of Magic and as he bowed, he splayed the fingers of his hands open to indicate he intended no harm or threat to The People and closed his eyes, indicating he trusted Elector Ironclaw to bring no harm or foul to him. Ironclaw hid his surprise well.

"The Ministry of Magic and the Crown recognise Lord Harry James Potter as the rightful Lord of House Potter," Amelia Bones said formally.

Hermione once more came to Harry's rescue as he looked lost to respond. She whispered to him, "You need to say," she paused a moment and looked at Director Bones.

"Harry, the formal response is 'I, Lord Harry James Potter, do accept the rights and responsibilities of my station with honour, strength, wisdom and courage'," Amelia said.

Harry squared his shoulders once more, feeling the weight of the words as he spoke them, " I, Lord Harry James Potter, do accept the rights and responsibilities of my station with honour, strength, wisdom and courage."

He then looked at Hermione, who was smiling at him with barely-contained excitement. The adults in the room could see that Harry's energy level was flagging and was on the verge of falling asleep again.

"Lord Potter, the remainder of the business before us," Ironclaw said, indicating the stack of parchment, "can be dealt with another day, if you so desire."

"I can be available to represent the Ministry and the Crown with reasonable advance notice," Amelia said, looking at Harry with a smile.

Harry felt a bit unsteady on his feet and yawned. "Thank you. For some reason all this sleeping has made me tired," he said with a wan smile. He looked once more at Hermione, whose smile was beaming at him when his vision went grey, hearing Dan's voice in the distance saying, "I've got him!"

-oOoOo-

Harry opened his eyes and automatically reached for his glasses on the bedside table, only to have someone hand them to him. Emma was sitting at his bedside and placed a bookmark in the book she was reading. "Good morning, Harry," she whispered, pointing to the other side of the room. Harry looked where she was pointing and smiled as he saw a pyjama-wearing Hermione asleep in a bed not far away from his own. There was a somewhat larger bed on the other side in which Dan lay asleep. He turned on his side so he could more easily look at Hermione. "_I don't know why, but I could happily watch you sleep for hours, Hermione,_" he thought.

He was surprised a moment later as Emma whispered again, "It is nice to watch them sleep so peacefully. There are times when I wake up in the middle of the night for no reason and sneak into her room just to watch her sleep. When she was at Hogwarts, I would watch Dan sleep. It is amazing how it helps to pull your thoughts back down to the here and now."

Harry slowly rolled back over and looked at Emma. A tear was slowly trickling down her cheek as she watched Hermione and Dan sleep and then she looked at Harry. She wiped her eyes and smiled an embarrassed smile. Harry was about to ask Emma a question when Bonnie quietly entered the room. The fact that she made almost no sound at all was disquieting for Harry until he realised there must be a silencing spell on the door and on her shoes.

"Good morning, Harry. How are you feeling this morning?" Bonnie asked quietly.

"I'm feeling better," he said. His stomach chose that moment to announce it believed his throat had been failing to do its job and send food down.

"Let's see about getting you some food. Would you like that?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't mean to be any trouble," Harry said, flinching at the memory of what happened in the past when he asked for food from Aunt Petunia.

The only outward sign that Bonnie was less than pleased with this was a slight narrowing of her eyes. "Harry. I am going to go bring you and Mrs Granger some breakfast. We need you to get better and eating is one of the ways you'll get better," Bonnie whispered, her smile back in full force.

Harry simply nodded with a grateful smile.

"Mrs. Granger, would you be so kind as to help me with breakfast?" Bonnie asked.

Emma nodded to Bonnie then whispered to Bonnie, "I would be happy to," then she looked at Harry and whispered to him with a smile and a wink, "Harry, you keep an eye on those two and keep them out of trouble while I am gone, okay?"

Harry smiled and nodded. Emma stood and set her book on the chair, ruffled Harry's hair gently and walked out of the room with Bonnie, allowing the door to close behind her silently. Harry once more rolled over and watched as Hermione continued to sleep. He didn't realise it as it happened, but he dozed off with a smile gracing his face.

-oOoOo-

Emma walked out of the room, following Bonnie and the tears began flowing once more. This time it was tears of rage and anger. _"How anyone could treat a child in such a fashion! And one as sweet, as courageous as Harry,_" she thought.

Bonnie stopped suddenly, turned around and pulled Emma into a hug. In the week they had been staying at the hospital so Hermione could stay with her friend, this was the first time Emma had seen Bonnie break down and cry. Emma held her for some minutes until Bonnie's shoulders stopped heaving with the worst of her tears.

Bonnie pulled back in embarrassment. She wiped her eyes and said, "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Granger. Look at me. A fully-qualified mediwitch a year away from becoming a healer and I lose my composure over a patient."

Emma held Bonnie by her shoulders and forced Bonnie to look into her eyes. "As a doctor, nurse, healer or mediwitch, we are not required to leave our humanity at home. I know you have come in after your shift to look in on him. You've probably seen me watching him while he was asleep."

Bonnie nodded.

"Compassion is one of the strengths a successful doctor or healer has. With a patient like Harry, compassion is a three-edged sword. It helps the patient heal faster by demonstrating there are those who care about their well-being, but it can also cut us to the bone with the pain we feel for the children who are not cared for as they should be, and it can cut you so deeply that you bury the compassion with detachment, harming your ability to be in touch with your patient's needs. But, finally, it can prevent you from being objective with your patients when all you have is compassion," Emma said thoughtfully, then turned to look at the closed door then back again at Bonnie. "I think, though, that Harry is one of those cases where the compassion is well-placed. He needs good, loving people around him who genuinely care for him as a person. That has been something lacking, even when he was away at school."

Bonnie nodded mutely, wiping the tears from her eyes. Then she looked at Emma and laughed a moment, "Well, we should probably bring him back a good, hearty breakfast then!" Emma smiled and took Bonnie's hand.

"Lead on to breakfast," Emma said.

Bonnie lead her to the ward desk and called for a house elf to bring breakfast for four. Before the diminutive little creature could disappear, Emma said "Five," and before Bonnie could protest, Emma continued her thought, "We also need Harry surrounded by positive role models during breakfast and I am guessing you didn't have breakfast before you started your shift."

Bonnie smiled then looked at the elf. "Breakfast for five, then, Twinkle." The elf popped away and Emma and Bonnie walked back to the room.

-oOoOo-

Harry awoke again to the aroma of tea, bacon, ham, pastries and scrambled eggs. He opened his eyes and saw a short person zooming around a table setting plates, utensils and napkins before covering the plates in the most mouth-watering food Harry had ever seen which he himself had not prepared. He saw that Dan was already awake and dressed and Emma was coaxing Hermione to wake up. Hermione groused for a few moments before rolling over and seeing Harry. Her frown transformed into an embarrassed smile.

"Good morning, Harry," Hermione said with a mixture of happiness and embarrassment.

"Good morning, Hermione," Harry said, then tried to remember the sorts of things Uncle Vernon had said to Aunt Petunia first thing in the morning. "You look lovely," he said.

Hermione blushed brightly then sat up in bed and looked in the mirror on the wall. She then looked over at Harry. "I think we need to get you to an optometrist, Harry. If you think I look lovely this morning, your glasses must be horribly out of date!" Hermione said with a smile.

Dan watched the interplay between the two of them. "Hermione, I think his eyesight is just fine. Even with your hair looking as if you got zapped by the mains, you're still a pretty girl," Dan said with a smile.

"Daddy! You're just biased," Hermione said, mortified that even her dad thought she was pretty when one could hide an elephant in her hair when she first awoke in the morning.

The five sat down for breakfast, but before Harry could eat, he had several potions to consume. "They'll help your body along with getting better and staying healthy," Bonnie had said as she watched Harry to make sure he drank all four potions down. Once he had, with a twisted, 'how-can-they-make-potions-taste-THAT-yucky!' look on his face, she said, "Now that wasn't so bad. Tuck in and we'll see if you can leave here today," Bonnie finished with a smile.

Harry began eating with enthusiasm. The food was wonderful and he was sitting with people who seemed to genuinely like him for who he was and not some 'boy-who-lived' person that he really wasn't. He had almost finished with his second plate of food when the words Bonnie said hit him. "...leave here today..." echoed in his mind. Bonnie, Dan and Emma immediately noted the change in his demeanour and Hermione was a few seconds behind as she had been chatting about her grandparents to Bonnie.

"Harry, what ever is the matter?" Emma asked as fear gripped Harry.

"Where will I go when I leave here? Uncle Vernon always said that if anything happened to them I would be out on the street or in prison for freaks. Why do I have to leave today?" Harry was now in a complete panic, his food sitting in his stomach like a lead ball.

Emma got up and went around Hermione to embrace Harry, who was shaking in fear. "Harry, you will not be out on the street and you are not going to any prison. At the very least, we have a guest bedroom you can sleep in and you could stay with us this summer. Would you like that?" she asked.

"I don't want to ruin your nice house by me being there, Mrs. Granger," Harry said, his voice quivering on the verge of hysteria.

Emma looked at Dan, who looked at Harry from across the table. "Harry, please look at me," Dan said with iron in his voice. Harry immediately looked at Dan. In a much softer tone, Dan continued. "Harry, son, regardless of how your aunt and uncle treated you, you deserve to have a safe place to sleep, good food to make you strong and healthy and role models to help you develop socially and morally. I am concerned that you would think your presence in our home would ruin it, when my perspective is that your presence will enrich our lives and give Emma and me an opportunity to get to know you at least as well as Hermione does now."

Harry had stopped shivering and was looking at Dan in bewilderment. "You want me to stay with you?" Harry asked incredulously, looking between Emma and Dan. Hermione looked fit to burst.

"The three of us would be very happy if you would stay with us, Harry," Emma said with a smile at Harry.

"I can cook and clean and do the weeding and I don't eat too much and..." Harry was mid-rant when Dan cut him off.

"Harry, there might be chores to do, but all four of us will take part in them. I expect you've learned some behaviour from your aunt and uncle which we will gently remind you to modify. While I am sure you are an accomplished cook, for the most part, Emma and I do the cooking. We can figure out anything else as it comes up, but Emma and I, and I am sure Hermione as well," to which Hermione was animatedly nodding vehemently, "are inviting you, not compelling you, to live with us. I think you have some additional business with Gringotts today or tomorrow which may provide you with other options. Neither Emma nor I are willing to see you released from here with no where to go," Dan said with a kindly smile.

Harry looked up at Emma as if for confirmation. She looked down at him and smiled with unshed tears in her eyes. Hermione was wound up tightly but didn't want to say anything because it might make Harry feel like it was forced on him. Harry wrapped his arms around Emma and hugged her while he cried. _"No one has ever wanted me before. What did I do to make them like me so much? Am I hurting Hermione's feelings?"_ he thought. He pushed away from Emma and looked at Hermione, who had her fist in her mouth to keep from screaming or saying anything.

"Hermione, do you want me to stay with you and your parents?" Harry asked nervously. He wasn't sure how Hermione could get up from the table and hug him so quickly but here she was, engulfing him in a bone-cracking hug.

"Please say 'yes', Harry. I would be so happy if you could stay with us this summer!" she said, pulling back and looking at him, her eyes glistening.

"Okay, Hermione..." he began.

Harry didn't get the rest of his sentence out as Hermione kissed him on the cheek and excitedly said, "Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Harry! This summer is going to be so much fun!" Hermione exclaimed before giving Harry a hug and then Emma and running around the table so she could hug Dan and finally she hugged Bonnie then she sat down next to Harry again, an ear-to-ear smile adorning her face.

"Now Kitten, clean your plate. You, too, Harry. You both will likely need your energy today," Emma softly chided them both.

Harry also had a huge smile on his face as he finished his second helping, only to have Bonnie put another scoop of eggs and two more pieces of bacon on his plate. He turned to look at her with a smile and she pulled him into a hug, which he returned with enthusiasm. She then pointed to his plate and said, "if you finish that, you can get your business with Gringott's done today."

Harry began eating his third helping and wondered how his life had changed so rapidly for the better.

-oOoOo-

Author's note:

The original Chapter 1 for this story had so many cliches and plot holes in it, I felt it necessary to rewrite it from scratch. This is going to require later modifications to the previously posted chapters 3 and 4 and a complete scrapping and rewrite of chapter 2.

Year 1 is also going through major revisions, but I wanted to get Year 2, chapters 1 and 2 completed, chapters 3 and 4 revised and then see if the readers want Year 2 completed or Year 1 rewritten before I choose a direction; not that lack of direction is going to stop me from writing one or the other - it will just let me know what people are more interested in reading.


	5. Harry Dursley

"Good morning, Harry," the large man said. "Do you know what today is?"

Harry slowly looked around in the darkness. "What time is it?" he asked.

"Just a bit past midnight, Harry, my boy!" was the cheerful response.

"Why did you wake me up so early?" he asked, sleep still heavy in his voice.

"It is a very special day, Harry!"

"Well it can't be Meán Samhraidh because we just celebrated that last month," Harry said, trying to determine what could be so special, "and it isn't Lúgnasad, because that isn't for another two weeks." he said earnestly.

"This is a special day about you, Harry. It's your fifth birthday! And young men only turn five once in their life!"

Harry's face lit up. "Really?" he asked excitedly.

Harry's uncle mussed Harry's hair with a smile. "Yes, Lad, it really is your birthday. I thought perhaps you might want to get up a bit early and enjoy as much of the night sky as you can," Vernon said, his smile not leaving his face as he thought of the first time his parents had woken him to wish him a happy birthday.

Harry put on some trousers, a jumper and his black trainers and went out into the backyard with Uncle Vernon and Dudley. Aunt Petunia was already outside with a blanket on the ground and hot cocoa in steaming mugs waiting on her three men. "Happy Birthday, Harry!" Petunia said, giving Harry a gentle hug.

Harry hugged her back for all he was worth. "Thank you, Aunt Petunia!" he exclaimed.

"Well, time to make it so we can see the stars," Uncle Vernon said, putting a scoped rifle to his shoulder. Vernon took careful aim at the street lamp in front of Number Six Privet Drive and gently squeezed the trigger. Other than a slight whisper of compressed air, the only thing to be heard was the sound of bits of plastic hitting the pavement. He had learned through research that the photocell unit on the lamps was much less expensive to replace than the globe and lamp itself but that destroying it was just as effective in turning the lights off when he wanted it to be dark.

His second shot took out the photocell on the lamp standard in front of Number 8 Fulford Road. His next ten shots all hit their intended targets as the neighbourhood was no longer illuminated. Satisfied, he put the safety on, removed the large gas cylinder and emptied the pellet magazine. He then placed the rifle back in its soft case and took it back into the house.

"Blessed darkness," he said upon returning, then looked at his boys, both of whom had worshipping smiles on their faces. "You see, boys, sometimes rules have to be broken," he had told them the first time he had taken them into the backyard to enjoy the stars.

Tonight, the sky was clear and the waning crescent of the moon was now softly illuminating the group. They heard a slight pop and the rattle of the side gate. "That should be Uncle Robert," Vernon said. True to his words, a tall, thin man with a dark brown hair shook hands with Vernon as the two of them came back to the blanket. As he had done last month on Dudley's birthday, Uncle Robert had a large box under his arm which was brightly wrapped. He gave Harry and Dudley each a hug and then bent down to kiss Aunt Petunia's hand.

Harry wanted to ask about the box, but knew it would be rude. His patience was rewarded a few moments later when Uncle Robert set the box down on the ground. He then stood between the boys and the box and waved his hand at the box. Harry thought he could see the box glow for a moment but thought it was probably just a trick of the moonlight.

"Harry, this is for you to help you celebrate turning five," Uncle Robert said with a smile, standing back from the box, which seemed to have grown some since it had been put on the ground.

Because it was so much bigger than he, Harry asked Dudley if he would help him unwrap it, much to the pride of the three adults.

Knowing Harry was very careful about such things, Dudley followed Harry's lead and carefully pulled up the tape on the paper so as to not tear it. Once it was unwrapped, both Harry and Dudley stood back with opened-mouth, wide-eyed surprise. Inside the box were two pedal cars, one in blue, which was Dudley's favourite colour and one in red, Harry's favourite colour. Dudley had received two pull wagons for his birthday in the same colours.

"Uncle Robert!" both boys exclaimed, "Thank you!" They ran to their uncle who'd bent down in expectation of this, and hugged him for all they were worth.

"Now you'll have to wait until daylight to drive them, but you should know they also have hitches on them so you can hook up your wagons," Uncle Robert explained.

The two boys spent the rest of the night having the stars named and described to them by Vernon and Uncle Robert.

-oOoOo-

Dudley had a split lip, which was bleeding and dripping down onto the ground where Harry lay doubled over, his bag of candy spilt all over the ground. Harry's glasses were broken, as was his nose. Both of his eyes were blackened. He was silently crying.

Piers Polkiss, however, was unconscious. Dudley had come running out of the candy store at the sound of Harry's yell for help and came around the corner to see Piers hit Harry first in the nose, breaking his glasses, and then punched him in the stomach.

Piers saw Dudley coming and lined a punch up, hitting the large boy in the mouth, splitting his lip. Dudley never noticed. All he could see was a boy who he thought of as a brother lying on the ground because of the school bully. Dudley grabbed Piers in a headlock and did to Piers what Dudley and Harry had seen on the telly. Dudley repeatedly struck Piers in the top of the head until his body went limp. Dudley then threw him down onto the ground and stood over him, vociferously daring him to get up. Dudley then helped Harry up and helped him walk home.

To say Aunt Petunia was upset was an understatement. The thought never crossed her mind that Dudley had struck Harry. She knew the boys were inseparable. How someone else could do this to her two boys was just unthinkable. Once she got them cleaned up and a cool cloth on Harry's face, she called Vernon, who called Robert and twenty minutes later, all three adults were sitting down with the boys.

Uncle Robert started the discussion because of Harry's obvious discomfort. "Harry, I am not a doctor, but I am going to fix your face for you, okay?"

Harry couldn't nod because of the pain, but Robert took his grunt as approval.

Harry and Dudley watched as their Uncle Robert pulled a stick out of his coat pocket then waved it over Harry's face while singing, or so it seemed. Dudley was shocked as he watched the transformation of Harry's bruises fade away and his nose being off to one side was returned to normal.

Harry felt the pain subside almost instantly with only a slight ache when Uncle Robert was done.

"Now Dudley, let's take a look at your lip and your hand," Uncle Robert said. He then pointed his stick at Dudley's lip then waved it over the bruises on Dudley's hand and they, too, disappeared. Dudley stretched his hand back and forth.

Harry and Dudley had a million questions, but Uncle Robert's stern gaze held their silence. "Boys, I understand one of the school bullies attacked you today," he said, looking at Harry, who nodded. "Dudley, it sounds like you beat this," he looked at Petunia.

"Piers," she said.

"Yes, this Piers boy unconscious and then you left him to get Harry home. While I commend your zeal to get Harry back home, Piers is still a human being who deserved to at least have his injuries looked after," Uncle Robert explained. "I am going to go and check on him to make sure he is okay and then I'll be back and we can all have a nice chat about this," he said, then got up and left the house.

"Boys, go upstairs, get your showers and change into some fresh clothes before dinner," Uncle Vernon said.


	6. Aftermath from Shopping in Knockturn

Disclaimer: This is a continuation of Snippets Chapter 1 because it wouldn't get out of my dreamscape. This is an independent Harry, HP/HG, manipulative Dumbledore, strong Remus, Dursley-bashing story. This chapter, and Snippets Chapter 1 happen in 1994 / 1995.

Note: The spell Ago Eluo is based on a line from "Raspberry Jam" by VVC (an excellent magical maturity, HP/DM story which, even if you have a thing against slash, I would recommend as the slash aspect of it has been handled quite elegantly). The spell essentially causes bodily wastes to be evacuated and disposed of through the use of magic. I believe the naming of this spell is an original contribution as I have not seen it used elsewhere. I use this spell in a number of my stories under development.

-oOoOo-

Just as Harry blinked his eyes to adjust them to the brightness of the noon day sun, Tonks and Ron came running around the corner.

"What happened, Harry?" Tonks asked, then noticed how tightly Hermione was holding on to Harry and the terrified noises she was making. "Hermione, are you alright?" Tonks asked.

"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione in some concern.

Harry pulled Hermione from behind him and she moved around to embrace him face to face, her eyes remained tightly shut. Harry had one hand behind her head and one hand on the small of her back. He couldn't quite make out what she was whispering to him, but it was clear she was hysterical.

Tonks put her hand on Hermione's back and pulled her hand away as if she'd been electrocuted as Hermione screamed in terror at the contact, drawing the eyes of all those nearby to the group of four.

"We need to get her back to Grimmauld Place," Tonks said.

Harry nodded. He whispered to Hermione, "We need to get you home, Hermione. Will you let me take you?" he asked.

She nodded, her eyes still tightly closed and unwilling to release Harry. When Harry moved to walk, instead of repositioning so she could walk with him, she gripped him harder then wrapped first one leg, then the other, around Harry's waist. To keep from falling over, and so all her weight wasn't on his neck, Harry did, for him, the unthinkable. He put both his hands on Hermione's firm butt, causing her to sigh, seemingly in relief. He was a bit shocked when she moved her head to sniff his neck then sighed a second time, her fear seeming to lessen significantly.

Tonks looked at the quizzically, Ron looked at Hermione and Harry. Ron saw Harry looking at him and Ron winked at Harry and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Alright, Harry. You take Hermione first. I'll take Ron," Tonks said.

"Harry can't apparate," Ron said, looking at Tonks as if she'd grown a third eye, "he hasn't been trained."

It was Harry's turn to wink at Ron as he snapped his fingers. Harry and Hermione disappeared without a sound.

"Wicked!" Ron whispered.

Tonks shook her head at him, took his hand and pulled him up close to her. "Let's go," Tonks said playfully and she and Ron disappeared with a loud pop.

-oOoOo-

Hermione felt the light level change and opened her eyes and saw they were back at the kitchen in Grimmauld Place. She closed her eyes again. She was still wrapped around Harry and felt his deliciously warm hands on her bum.

Suddenly there was a loud pop next to them. Hermione gripped Harry harder and began to whimper again, shuddering in fear.

Tonks and Ron looked over at Harry and Hermione. Tonks was concerned about Hermione's demeanour but Harry seemed to have the situation under control. Tonks turned her eyes back to Ron and smiled, as Ron had not released her yet. Ron was looking at Harry and Hermione then he looked back at Tonks. Tonks decided to take a chance and kissed Ron chastely on the lips, causing his eyebrows to rise into his hairline. "How about we go into the sitting room and play a game of chess, Red?" Tonks asked.

Ron nodded and Tonks pulled him out of the kitchen by the hand, Ron being unable to take his eyes off the pink-haired auror.

Harry watched them go then turned his full attention to Hermione. "Hey you," he whispered.

"Take me upstairs, please, Harry?" she pleaded softly into his ear.

Harry turned and walked up the servants' stairs. He was about to exit out at the second floor when she said, "No, Harry. Your room. Take me to your room. I don't want to be alone," her voice becoming urgent.

Harry continued walking up to the fourth floor, opened the hidden door and then entered the master suite. The door closed behind him and he heard the locks engage. He heard Hermione sigh softly and melt into him, relaxing almost completely. He looked around the suite and decided she would be most comfortable on the ultra-king bed. He walked over to right next to the bed and knelt down on the mattress. He was trying to be conscientious of Hermione's immediate needs and her deep-seated sense of propriety.

"Winky," he called softly. The diminutive elf appeared with a soft pop. "Winky, could you please help me? Remove my shoes and Hermione's shoes and set them on the floor next to the bed." He said.

Harry felt his shoes vanish off his feet and felt Hermione's feet tighten slightly against his waist as she sighed and kissed his neck, shocking him.

"Thank you, Winky. Could you also cast Ago Eluo on both of us?" he asked.

He saw the cyan flash wash over Hermione. "One final item, please, Winky. A small Draught of Dreamless Sleep, please." He heard Winky snap her fingers and felt a weight in his shirt pocket. "Thank you, Winky. That will be all for now," he said and walked on his knees towards the head of the bed, carefully balancing Hermione the entire way while trying to concentrate on not falling over, made all the more difficult by Hermione's nuzzling his neck. He whispered softly to her, "hold on tight." He felt her tighten her arms around his neck and her legs took up the little slack there was. He leaned forward and caught their weight on his arms and gently lowered her down until her head was on the pillow. He did not feel her relax, however she continued nuzzling and kissing his neck.

"Hermione, you're safe," he said. He felt her arms relax and he pulled back and looked into her shining eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.

She looked deeply into his eyes and began to nod then shook her head. "Harry," she whispered, "do you think I'm pretty?" she asked, desperation in her voice.

"You're beautiful, Hermione," he said, still not understanding what had happened.

"Am I pretty enough for you?" she asked, pain clear in her voice.

"I don't understand, Hermione," Harry said. "What do you mean 'pretty enough'?" he asked.

"Am I pretty enough to be your girlfriend?" she asked, fear in her eyes.

"You're my friend, Hermione. My best friend," he said, wondering if she was asking him to be her boyfriend.

She began crying. Between sobs she said, "So...not...pretty...enough...for...you," he made out.

He wiped away the tears from her face with his fingers. "Hermione, I," he hesitated then drove on, "I didn't want to ruin our friendship by daring to have more with you. If I had asked and you weren't interested in me that way, what would it have done to our friendship?" he asked rhetorically. She looked back at him. "I've wanted more than friendship with you since the basilisk, Mione. I just never wanted to risk losing you," he admitted looking into her eyes.

She pulled him down to her and kissed him hard, her need projected into the kiss. Her tongue licked his lips and when they parted, she invaded his mouth, pushing all her need for protection into it. He felt her body once more melt against him.

They were both gasping for air when the kiss ended, but Harry was shocked when Hermione pulled him down again to nuzzle his neck. As her lips moved close to his ear, she whispered, "make love to me, Harry. Keep me safe. I'm yours in every way. Please?" she pleaded with him. He realized she probably knew he had had a physical reaction due to her close proximity since before elf-popping from the alley which had not subsided yet.

He pulled back a bit and tried to give her a gentle kiss, but her need caused her to once more pull him into a deep, breathtaking kiss.

He pulled all the way back and remembered the potion in his pocket. He worked to fish it out and unstopper it with one hand. Her eyes followed his hand and watched him open it.

"Hermione, you need to rest. Please take this for me," he said.

She finally relaxed her legs from around his waist, nodded then sat up a bit. He handed her the vial, which she took. She hesitated for a moment, looking at the vial then at him.

"Don't worry, Hermione. I won't leave your side and I won't take advantage of you," he said.

She nodded with a little smile then downed the vial in one swallow. Just before she fell asleep, she looked into those green eyes and slurred, "I **LOVE** you, Harry Potter!" and with a smile on her face, fell into a deep sleep.

-oOoOo-

Once Hermione was asleep, Harry called for Winky again. Winky moved the girl under the blankets and removed her clothing so she would be more comfortable. She snapped her fingers once more, causing Hermione's hair to be braided. Another snap of her fingers and Hermione was dressed in pyjamas with the Potter coat of arms over her heart. Harry then asked Winky to let Tonks know he needed to speak with her. Ten minutes later, Tonks arrived.

"Wotcher, Harry. Is Hermione going to be okay?" she asked upon arrival.

"I'm worried about her, Nym. Before I gave her the dreamless sleep potion, she asked me to make love to her," He explained, the tension clear in his voice, his eyes never leaving Hermione as he absently held her hand.

Tonks was confused. "A pretty girl asked you to have sex with her, right?"

"Not just any pretty girl, Nym. Hermione asked me," He said.

"What did you do?" Nym asked in concern.

"I gave her the Draught of Dreamless Sleep Winky brought to me so she would sleep," Harry explained. He then picked Hermione's hand up and kissed it. "Nym, she told me she loved me. What should I do?" he asked, with a hint of desperation in his voice.

Tonks walked over to the bed and sat next to Harry and put her hands on his shoulders. "Well, Harry, that depends. First, let me say I am impressed you had the willpower not to take advantage of Hermione while she was in a distraught state. I'm sure most other boys would have taken her up on her offer in a heartbeat and never looked back."

He nodded but his attention never wavered from Hermione's sleeping form.

"Harry? Do you love her?" she asked.

"I don't know what love is, Nym. She's the most important person in the whole world to me. I would die for her, Nym," he said.

"Do you think she really loves you?" Tonks asked.

"I don't know. Today got very odd. The shopkeeper seemed to want me to sell or trade him Hermione. Is that even legal? Not that there is anything in all the world I would trade her for," Harry said, a small smile on his face.

"It is, under certain circumstances. But Harry, since she told you, I will tell you a bit about a conversation Hermione had with me. She loves you, and I am not just talking about a teenage infatuation or a crush or even loving the Boy-Who-Lived. She loves you, Harry James Potter, fourteen-year-old, glasses-wearing, cute-butted cousin of mine," Tonks said with a smile, squeezing Harry's shoulders.

Harry turned his head and looked at Tonks with a grin, "So, you've been checking out my butt?"

Tonks kissed his nose. "Harry, if you weren't so damned noble, and Hermione and I hadn't had our little chat, I might be one of the witches chasing after your butt." They both giggled a bit at this. "But in all honesty, you have this intelligent little bookworm wrapped around your finger and, like you, I wouldn't do anything to hurt Hermione. You have her heart, Harry. If she really is the most important person in the world to you, likely you love her," Tonks explained.

"But, how do I know?" Harry asked, turning back and looking down at Hermione's sleeping form.

"You'd said you would die for her?" Tonks asked. Harry just nodded. "Would you kill for her?" she asked.

"I already have," he said, "a troll and Quarrel in first year, a basilisk in second year, dementors in third year. It doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to think I wouldn't need to kill again to keep her safe. At the very least, I will be killing Tommy," he said quietly.

Tonks was silent for a moment. "Would you live for her, Harry? If you lost her and she wanted you to, begged you to, would you go on without her?"

For several minutes, there was silence. Tonks could not see Harry's silent tears, but when he finally did speak, they were evident in his voice. "I wouldn't want to, Nym. She is the air I breathe, the water I drink, the food I eat. She is my joy and my heart," his voice breaking at the end.

Tonks leaned into him and hugged him from the side. "That sounds a lot like love to me, Harry. That sounds like a lot more love than most married couples have for one another. If you had said those words to her today, and felt them as intensely as I see you do...well, based on Hermione's and my conversation, you would be one happy wizard right now," Tonks said with a smile.

Harry nodded. "I suppose I should tell her when she wakes up," he said.

"Do that, but don't hurt her. I'm teaching her to fight dirty and we'll use you as a training dummy if you hurt her," Tonks said half playfully, half seriously.

Harry leaned his head on Tonks' shoulder. "Nym, if I had a thousand cousins, you'd still be my favourite. Anyone who looks after my Hermione wins kudos from me," he said.

Tonks kissed the top of his head, "And don't you forget it, Harry," she said. "I am going to go back and give Ron a few more lessons on rapport," she explained, "meanwhile, you watch out for our girl."

Tonks kissed him on the cheek once more then got off the bed and left the room.

Harry began to feel the events of the day wearing him down. He lay down on the bed, intending to close his eyes only for a moment. It was hours later when he awoke.

-oOoOo-

Hermione awoke in moonlight. She looked towards the ceiling and saw it was, like the ceiling in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, charmed to display the sky. She was cozy warm and relaxed until she realized two things. Someone was spooned around her. Whomever that was had a pajama-covered arm draped over her and a hand on her bare stomach. She looked down at the hand on her stomach and saw the glint of a large ring on the hand. Even in the dim light, she recognized the ring. Somehow, she was in bed with Harry. She remembered the day had been horrific for the most part, with the worst of it being after Harry had made his selection. She had felt like some piece of meat, being pinched and prodded for tender spots. She then remembered kissing Harry and what she had asked him to do and his gentle deflection to the potion. Finally, she remembered professing her love for him just before descending into darkness.

His hand was so nice and warm on her bare tummy, with his middle finger in her navel and his pinky just beneath the waist of her pajama pants. She felt him stir. His face nuzzling into her neck.

She felt him kiss her neck softly. His hand began moving in little circles on her stomach, but made no move to go too high or too low.

"Are you awake, Sleepy Head?" he asked softly.

She answered him by putting her hand on his and tracing his fingers.

"Are you okay, Mione?" he asked, his voice filled with concern and love.

"I am when I'm with you, Harry," she whispered.

"Do you remember anything from today?" he asked tentatively.

She lifted his hand and rolled over to face him, then placed his hand on her bum. "I remember," she replied, looking into his eyes.

"I'm worried about you, Hermione. I think the day's events got to you and you asked me to..." he was interrupted by her putting a finger to his lips to shush him.

"I meant what I said, Harry. I love you, I want to be with you and I want you to be with me," she said, searching his eyes. She took a deep breath. "Harry, when we were in that...that...that place, and the shopkeeper wanted you to sell me to him, I felt like a piece of meat. I don't ever want to feel that way again. Earlier I wanted you to take me. Take my..." it was Hermione's turn to be silenced by Harry.

"Shush, my little witch," he said then moved slowly to kiss her, giving her time to move away if she wanted to. Instead, she moved too, into their first, tender kiss.

A few moments later, Harry drew back and looked at Hermione's blissful, closed-eye expression. "Would you be my girlfriend, Mione? I know I'm a clueless sod when it comes to girls, but..."

"You want to be my boyfriend?" she asked hesitantly.

"With all my heart," he said.

She answered him by kissing him again. After a few moments they both came up for air.

"Harry?" she asked.

"Yes, Mione?"

"Why didn't you take me up on my offer?" she asked tentatively.

He thought for a moment before answering her. "I suppose the most important reason is that you weren't doing very well, you were afraid and distraught and not your normal self. It also seemed like too much of a leap to go from best friends to lovers without time for less intimate exploration. If you and I do decide to go that far, I want it to be for all the right reasons, I want us to both have a clear head about it and I want us both to enjoy the experience," he explained. "I guess it just seemed like you weren't really in control and that some desperate fear was driving you to do it." He rolled onto his back, looking up at the night sky. "Tonks and I talked about it after you fell asleep," he began. Hermione rolled halfway onto Harry and began running her hand through his hair. He looked into her eyes. "After talking with Tonks, I realized I love you as well," he was cut off as she kissed him. He put his hand gently on the back of her head as she deepened the kiss. She pulled back slowly to see the smile on his face. "And because I love you," he continued, "I didn't want to take something from you when you weren't in the right frame of mind to give it freely. Does that make sense?"

He looked at her and could see the tears welling up in her eyes and watched as the first tear ran down her face. "Love? Why are you crying?" he asked as he wiped her tears away with his thumb.

"Happy tears, Harry. Any other boy would have taken me in a moment but you...you...you're so honourable. And sweet. And handsome. I am one lucky witch!" she exclaimed. Just then, her stomach grumbled.

Harry laughed, "I guess you're one hungry witch too! Let's get dressed and see if Winky has something for us to eat," he said.

As he said her name, the light level in the suite began rising until it was three-quarters normal brightness and Winky appeared with a covered tray. Harry and Hermione heard her pop in and sat up in bed.

"Winky bring Master Harry and his Hermione dinner. Winky was worried yous would be upset with her, Master Harry," she said as she hovered the tray over to the two of them.

"Winky, why would you think Harry would be upset with you?" Hermione asked.

"Winky is putting clothes on yous, Master Harry's Hermione, so when he wakes up he not see yous bare. It not proper him seeing you like that before betrothed," she explained.

"Winky, you did well in protecting Hermione's honour. You did the right thing," Harry said.

"Yous not upset with Winky? Master Harry is greatest wizard just like Dobby says!" Winky said before popping out and returning with a silver bucket filled with ice and butterbeers, which she also floated over to Harry and Hermione. "Master Harry, Winky will know when you are done with dinner and will leave yous undisturbed until your meal is finished," she said.

"That is very thoughtful of you, Winky. Thank you," Harry said.

The little elf blushed before popping away.

Hermione was quiet. At the word, "betrothed", she had taken Harry's hand in her own. "_Betrothed. Betrothed to Harry. A dream come true,"_ she thought.

"Galleon for your thoughts?" Harry asked, seeing Hermione was lost in thought.

"Galleon? Isn't that a bit much? Most people say 'A sickle'," she said, looking at him with a small smile.

"Hermione, your thoughts are always worth a fortune to me," he said, returning the smile. When she didn't say anything, he gestured towards the platter. "Dinner?" He removed the lid and noted that Winky was worth her weight in gold. Beneath the cover was a lit candle and Hermione's favourite dish, curried lamb with Madras potatoes.

Hermione swooned as the aroma of the curry reached her. She leaned her head on Harry's shoulder. He wrapped his left arm around her and picked up a fork and began feeding her from his plate. She moaned appreciatively as the flavour filled her mouth. _"Cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, cumin, coriander, tender succulent lamb! Merlin! This is good!"_ she thought, another little moan escaped her.

"I take it you like it?" he asked, a bit of amusement in his voice.

"Mmmmmhmmm," she answered, nodding slightly, chewing thoroughly, savouring every little explosion of flavour on her tongue.

She swallowed and he brought another fork-full of food to her mouth. "You know, I can..." she was interrupted by him putting the food in her mouth.

"Yes, Love, I know you can feed yourself, but I'm enjoying feeding you," he said.

She smiled with her whole body when he said "Love" and just relished the warmth of him as she continued to enjoy the food. In between, Harry took bites himself, also enjoying the complexity of the flavours washing over his palate.

They finished the meal in silence and simply enjoyed the food and the company.

When the meal was done, Winky popped in, vanished the tray and served them gelato; chocolate for Hermione, vanilla bean for Harry. They took the opportunity to feed one another the velvety smooth, cold dessert.

Winky popped in when she sensed they were done and took away the dishes and departed, informing Harry he had no appointments for tomorrow.

Hermione and Harry looked at one another shyly. Although they had been best friends for years, this closeness was a new development and neither wanted to hurt the other. It was, of course, Hermione who made the first tentative move. She pushed Harry down so he lay on the bed once more then she lay down using his chest for a pillow and pulled his arm around her. "Much better," she purred in contentment.

"Hermione," Harry began, "is this normal? I mean, we were best friends this morning and now we're boyfriend and girlfriend and sleeping together in the same bed."

"Probably not, but I've never felt safer than in your arms. Do you want me to leave you to sleep by yourself?" she asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

He responded somewhat panicked, "Never! I mean, um, only if you want to."

She looked up and kissed him briefly. "I want to stay here with you, My Harry," she cooed, then cuddled back down. She looked back up at the ceiling. "I wonder how many manors have their ceiling enchanted like this. I thought it was only Hogwarts," she said, chewing on her bottom lip as was her habit when thinking.

"Mum enchanted this ceiling and the ceilings at most of the Potter houses. From her's and Sirius' journals, the two of them were like brother and sister, so when Regulus died leaving Sirius as Lord Black, he asked Mum to enchant the ceiling," Harry explained pensively.

Hermione looked up at him, concern in her eyes, "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to..."

"Shhhh, Mione. It's okay. I only have the vaguest memories of either of them, but Sirius left me a number of journals as did Mum. It helps me to be closer to them in some ways," Harry said.

"Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Yes, Love?" he responded, looking once more up at the ceiling.

"I'm being a bit silly, I suppose but..." she paused in embarrassment.

"My Hermione? Being silly? Never!" Harry said, running his hand up and down her arm slowly.

"Do you think your mum would have approved of us? Would like me?" she asked, sounding like a scared little girl.

"I think the two of you would have gotten on famously. I think Mum would have loved you, and Dad and Sirius would have cheered for me," he said, hugging her tightly.

She worked her way under his pyjama top to touch his bare stomach. His breath caught in his throat at the contact. She began unbuttoning the buttons of his top so she could freely move her hand around his chest as she looked up at the night sky. "Maybe we could do our astronomy homework in here," she said, her voice betraying only a bit of distraction from her words.

Harry laughed, releasing the tension caused by her roaming hand.

"What's so funny?" she asked, lifting her head and looking into his eyes.

"You're taking my clothes off and talking about homework. What's not to laugh at?" He replied with a grin.

Hermione giggled then reached up to kiss him again. "There's nothing wrong with multitasking, Harry," she said, then a wicked little smile played across her face, "besides, if there was a human anatomy course, we could do both sets of homework at once!"

Harry blushed and looked at her. In the darkness he could tell she, too, was blushing. "Well, from what little astronomy I know, I would say its about midnight and we should both try to sleep a bit more before dawn," he said. He felt her nod then cuddle in closer.

He ran his fingers through her hair and began gently massaging her scalp. Even after he felt her breathing change to the deep, slow breathing of sleep, he continued to rub her scalp until sleep took him.

-oOoOo-

Hermione could feel a hand on her leg, just below the knee, gently pulling. She relaxed and allowed her legs to be gently pulled apart, one at a time. She then felt hands tenderly grasping her wrists and pulling them over her head. One by one, she felt the buttons of her pyjamas, first the top, then the pants, carefully, gently unbuttoned and slowly opened to expose her skin. She felt warm hands slowly, lovingly cup her breasts then strong but gentle fingers tweaking first one, then the other, nipple until she was fully aroused. These same hands stroked down her stomach, down her thighs then back up, spreading her wider with soft thumbs. She then heard a loud, nasal intake of breath and a lecherous, corrupt voice whispering with a guttural laugh, "unspoiled." She opened her eyes and looked down to see two filthy hands with arms covered in tattered, yellow robes. Her scream woke the house.

-oOoOo-

"Will she be alright?" Harry asked.

"I believe, Lord Potter, she simply had an incredibly vivid nightmare. I believe she will sleep well into the morning. The two potions I gave her should calm her nerves overall as well as allow her to sleep without dreaming," his private healer explained. "Based on my conversation with Auror Tonks, she had a very bad experience today and it is invading her dreams. I would recommend she not awaken alone," the healer said pointedly, giving Harry a gimlet eye.

Harry wasn't even looking at the healer. The only time his eyes had left Hermione since she had awoken screaming was when Tonks had asked her if she wanted to talk about it privately. Harry, Ron and the healer had left the room as Tonks and Hermione talked for nearly half an hour. As the healer had examined her, Tonks had a discussion with Harry regarding his perspective of the meeting he had with the shopkeeper. When Harry had entered the master suite again, Hermione was highly agitated.

"The healer wants me to take potions to help me sleep, Harry. Please don't leave me," she said, fear showing in every aspect of her demeanour.

"I promise I won't leave you, Mione-Love. Drink the potions down. I will be here and won't let anything happen to you," he said earnestly, holding her hand. She nodded and drank both potions.

"Now, Miss Granger, if you feel anything amiss or have any other extraordinary dreams, please let Lord Potter or Auror Tonks know immediately. There may be mind magics in play here which I am unable to detect, but we all need you rested," the healer said in his most-soothing voice.

Hermione nodded, then launched herself into Harry's arms. Her crying, at first almost hysterical, began to rapidly diminish until, quite suddenly, she was asleep.

The healer put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "My Lord, take good care of yourself as well. As much as Miss Granger needs her sleep, you need yours as well."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Healer Blueshirt. I appreciate your concern."

The healer closed his satchel and Winky showed him to the door. Less than two minutes later she had popped back in along with Dobby.

Of all the times Harry had interacted with Dobby in the past, this was not the spastic, flighty, attention-deficit elf in front of him. Nor was this the Dobby who was afraid to be punished or felt he had to iron his ears. This was the elf that tossed Lucius Malfoy onto his arse and down a hall. "Dobby hears what happened to Master Harry's Hermione. Dobby and Winky will stand guard tonight to insure no mean magics harm Master Harry's Hermione," the little elf said firmly.

"Thank you, Dobby, Winky. I have never met harder-working, more-loyal elves than the two of you," Harry said tiredly. The adrenalin was rapidly burning off and he could not hold sleep off much longer.

"Master Harry is tired," Winky said. She waved her hands and Harry could feel himself, along with Hermione, floating towards the head of the bed again. Dobby snapped his fingers and the sheets and blankets pulled back. Winky lowered them down onto the bed and Dobby, with a bit more hand waving, tucked them in.

"Sleep, Great Wizard. We elves will guard you with our lives tonight," Winky whispered. Harry did not, however hear her as he was already asleep with Hermione curled tightly around him.

-oOoOo-

Harry awoke. While it was storming outside, the enchanted ceiling showed a bright, sunny day. He looked down at the weight on his chest and noted Hermione had moved around a bit while she slept. She was still asleep but straddling him. Sometime in the night, her pyjamas had unbuttoned and Harry was treated to a vision of her bare breasts against his chest. He closed his eyes and pulled her top up so he had ready access to her back. He began running small circles in her back with one hand while gently rubbing her head with the other. After a few moments she began making soft, pleasured moans. He moved his hands to withdraw.

"Please don't stop. That feels SOOOOO good," she purred.

"That is a mutual feeling," he said as he continued his ministrations, "but I think you should let me know when its safe to open my eyes," he said, a bit of humour in his voice.

He could feel her nod as he continued to rub her head and back.

Dobby popped in with breakfast a few minutes later. Once he had popped out again, Hermione crawled up Harry until she was straddling him properly and let her bare breasts come in full contact with his chest as she kissed him good morning. Through the thin cotton, she could feel his morning reaction. "Good morning to you, too, Mr Potter," she said impishly.

Harry blushed and opened his eyes. "It's hard to not have a reaction when a beautiful witch is teasing me," he said.

"Oh, it's definitely hard," she said, gently grinding her pelvis against his, causing his blush to deepen further.

She teased him a bit further by sitting up slowly and beginning to button her pyjama top from the bottom up. He snapped his eyes shut and made strangling noises while the heat coming off his face from his blush was warm enough for Hermione to feel it.

She stopped and lay back down on top of him, trying not to tease him further. "Harry?" she asked in honest curiosity, "do you really think I'm pretty?"

Harry opened his eyes and found her face just inches away from his. "You're amazingly pretty, Hermione," he said in a gasp, feeling himself about to burst at her proximity.

Harry noticed Hermione suddenly get glassy-eyed; he thought she looked exactly the way Luna does when she's talking about her unusual animals.

She closed her eyes and lowered her lips to his and gave him a gentle, almost tentative kiss. He, too, closed his eyes and experienced the wonder of a sweet, tender kiss from his girlfriend. He felt a little splash of water and realized she was crying again.

She pulled back from the kiss and he tried to wipe away her tears. "Mione-Love, tell me why you're crying," he said in concern.

"Harry, you've had such a crappy life, endured miseries most people couldn't dream up in their worst nightmares and yet you are so...so special. You make me feel like I'm a princess. You make me feel pretty," she said, looking up into infinity.

"You are pretty, Mione," he said earnestly.

The two were interrupted by the appearance of Dobby.

"Master Harry, your purchases have been delivered. The house elves who delivered it won't leave until you've inspected your purchases," Dobby said, disgust clearly communicated in his voice.

"What's wrong, Dobby? Why are you so upset?" Harry asked, thinking that it had something to do with a half-naked Hermione sitting on top of his lap trying to hold her pyjama top shut.

"Even Lord Malfoy didn't treat his elves the way these elves are treated," Dobby said then popped out.

Hermione and Harry practically leapt out of bed to see what Dobby was talking about.

-oOoOo-

Harry had known there were abused elves in the wizarding world from his experience with Dobby and Winky. He never imagined anyone could be more cruel to a house elf than Lucius Malfoy. After what he had seen today, he had to class Lucius nearly as a humanitarian to elves in comparison to what this Angus Grimm did to his elves.

Harry met with them at the edge of the wards with Dobby, Mad-Eye and Remus in attendance. Hermione had screamed and run back into the house at the sight of them.

The five elves who had delivered the package had been bathed in a potion which made their skin black and leather-like. The one who spoke had a rusty iron patch riveted in place covering his right eye and his ears had been sewn open with wire. The four who carried the package had their arms amputated and their mouths pinned shut using enormous diaper pins. Their eyes and ears had been sewn shut. They carried the package on a litter mounted to rough iron rods protruding from their shoulders where their arms had been.

The elf with the patch had a necklace of three shrunken elf heads around his neck. "Lord Potter, I am Glop. My master does greet thee and delivers unto thee thy purchases," it said. "My master also bids thee further greetings and does ask thee what price you would ask for the young girl you had in your company yesterday. My master is most anxious to have such a spirited plaything," it finished and bowed.

Harry could taste his disgust and feel his anger rising up at the mere thought of anyone else, much less someone who would do this to elves, touching his Hermione. A hand gripping his shoulder brought him back to reality.

"Steady there, Lad. He's just baiting you. Let's see what you got yourself," Mad-Eye said.

Harry looked at the crate on the litter and ordered it opened. Glop snapped his fingers and the top of the crate neatly parted in the centre. As the hinged doors opened, a foul, corrupt, tainted stench filled the air for a moment. Within the crate, as had been displayed upon the pedestal, were the twin robes and the twin swords. Also in the crate was a wax-sealed scroll.

Moody's eye was spinning wildly, looking at the items. "No curses at least," he said after a few minutes' inspection, "and some of the enchantments I have never seen before."

"Do these items meet with your approval, Lord Potter?" Glop asked sarcastically.

"They do," Harry said. Almost before the words were out of his mouth, the four elves carrying the litter shrugged and the crate fell to the ground. "Dobby," Harry called. Dobby appeared almost silently. "Take these items to Gringotts," Harry said. Dobby took hold of the crate and snapped his fingers, causing the crate and the elf to disappear.

Glop then looked towards the house, "And an answer for my master on the matter of the young girl?" he asked.

"Tell your master she is not for sale," Harry said, keeping his anger in check.

The elf bowed, "I shall convey your message to my master," Glop said mockingly. He then smiled at Harry, showing a mouthful of metallic, razor-sharp teeth. "I am sure you will come to some arrangement with him over her."

Before Harry could retort, Glop snapped his fingers and the five elves and the litter disappeared, leaving behind a noxious taint of rotting flesh in the air.

"Come on, Lad. Let's go check after your girl, then we can see what the goblins have to say about your taste in robes and swords," Moody said.

"Remind me to speak with her parents about someone wanting to buy her and what's needed to prevent it," Remus said. Harry nodded.

-oOoOo-

Harry entered the manor. He had anticipated Hermione would be waiting just inside the door for him, but she was no where in sight. He entered the dining room and found Ron consuming what was likely his third plate of bangers and mash.

"Ron, have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Tonks took her up to her room when she ran in crying," Ron said. He then looked quizzically at Harry. "Harry? Hermione seems a bit off lately. Did I do something to upset her?"

"No, Ron. I think her nerves are just a bit frazzled is all," Harry replied, not really wanting to try to explain it all to Ron.

Harry climbed the stairs to the second floor and knocked on the partially-closed door to Hermione's room. The conversation he had heard cut off as Hermione asked him to come in. She and Tonks were sitting on the bed and both of them had a rosy hue to their cheeks and both of them smiled nervously as he entered the room.

"Well, I'd better go downstairs and see if Ron is up for another game of speed chest...er...chess," Tonks said, her blush growing deeper as she sped past Harry and left the room.

"Thanks for taking care of our girl, Tonks!" Harry shouted at the closing door with humour in his voice. He then turned his gaze to Hermione.

"And why do I get the feeling I was being discussed just a few moments ago," Harry asked Hermione, raising an eyebrow at her as he walked over and sat on the bed next to her.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean," she said primly, however her blush also became more pronounced.

He closed the distance between them to kiss her. She licked her lips and closed her eyes. She felt his hands on her stomach and was swooning in anticipation. He kissed her gently while trailing a finger up and around her ear and down her neck. She gave a little shudder of pleasure. "Hey you," he said softly.

"Hey yourself," she said back at him, trying to kiss him again but he pulled back, then shrugged and kissed her again. "What was that about?" she asked.

"I was trying to decide whether to talk to you about priorities or kiss you. I decided kissing you is always my highest priority," he said with a large smile.

She smiled back.

"So my second priority of the day is to go to Gringotts," he said, "to see if the goblins can find any additional information on the items we purchased yesterday," at this, Hermione's entire body language changed. She moved closer to Harry and wrapped her arm around his waist, moulding herself to him. Noticing her significant mood change, he continued, "You can come with us or I can drop you with your parents to spend the rest of the day with them. It's up to you, Mione."

She looked up into his eyes then looked down in shame and fear. "I want to go wherever you're going, Harry. I don't feel safe any more."

"It's okay, Mione. I'll be there," he said, trying to sound confident.

She nodded then sat back up. "Well, I should go wash my face. I was be quite a frightful sight."

"You're a feast for my eyes, Love," he said, looking at her.

"Silly," she said and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before going into the loo to wash her face and hands.

-oOoOo-


	7. Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titlandus

-oOoOo-A/N-oOoOo-

When you get to it, they're big. Really big.

This is somewhere around 1996 in Scotland. It's yet another part of yet another story I am working on.

If HP/HG/DG is a squick for you, fine. Be that way. Sheesh! But I warn you - you'll miss out on some major cuteness

There are no lemons, limes, oranges or tomatoes in this chapter. There are a couple of incredibly beautiful young women in it though, and yes, they love one another deeply. There's no point in being in a relationship if you aren't willing to tie your very soul to the people you love.

And now, on with the chapter

-oOoOo-A/N-oOoOo-

-oOoOo-

As they approached the gates of the outer walls, Harry was recounting them with the stories he had read from the Potter vaults about this particular property. It was the oldest property the Potter family retained. Much of the stonework had been done by Dwarf and Goblin craftsmen in an age before the Wars of Races which saw the Dwarves and High Elves leave these lands.

Once they were close enough to the wards, they recognized Harry as Lord Potter, allowing the castle at the top of the hill to become visible.

All seven of them stopped and gasped at the site before them. A castle that dwarfed Hogwarts in its grandeur and immensity appeared, centred atop the hill. Around it on the left was a long, pointed, stone tail with a large triangle of what appeared to be solid stone at the end. Around it on the right was a long, stone neck at least fifty feet in diameter to which a stone dragon's head some thirty metres wide and fifteen metres tall set. There were two tendrils of smoke coming out of the nostrils.

"Merlin's beard! That is some of the finest stonework I have ever seen!" Sirius shouted.

"I think it is clever how they made the head into either a kitchen or a study. If you squinted, you could almost swear it was a real dragon," Remus said in wonder.

The group continued walking up the hill towards what was clearly the main entrance to the castle. An immense portcullis was in the middle of the South wall. Remus and Sirius were bantering back and forth about the incredible realism the masons achieved, while Emma laughed with Hermione about it looking like a scene from one of the porcelain miniatures Hermione had in her room of a dragon resting around a castle.

The group was just about to enter the portcullis structure in the outer wall when seven house elves appeared wearing black tunics with the Potter family crest on them; one of the elves' tunics had gold embroidery around the edges. Hermione had not noticed the appearance of the elves, but her laughter stopped immediately when she realized a three-metre diameter, bright yellow eye opened on the "stone" dragon's head and the serpent-like pupil dilated and seemed to take focus on the group. Like a mouse caught in the gaze of a snake, Hermione froze in her tracks. She closed her eyes tightly and thought vehemently, "_It cannot be! It cannot be! It! Cannot! Be!_" She opened her eyes and the stone dragon once more had both eyes closed.

"What's wrong, Kitten?" her mother asked.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" she said rather forcefully. She then noticed the elves whose attention took in the entire group but focused mostly on Harry, Hermione and Daphne.

The one with the gold embroidery knelt on one knee and bowed his head, as did the other six a half-second later, to Harry.

"Lord Potter, the grounds are prepared for your inspection," the head elf said and remained kneeling with his head bowed. None of the other elves moved or spoke.

Harry was unfamiliar with this behaviour and looked to Sirius. "Sirius, what is the protocol here?"

"I have no idea, Harry," Sirius said. "As far as I know, it is highly unusual to have more than one house elf per property, other than an institution like Hogwarts or St Mungo's. I only remember us ever having one house elf and that was Kreature," Sirius explained.

The smallest of the seven elves let out a gasp at the mentioning of the Black family elf but quickly composed herself once again.

"Does anyone here have any idea what I am supposed to do here?" Harry asked.

Daphne and Hermione looked at one another. Hermione shook her head indicating she had no idea what the proper, pureblood method was of dealing with this situation. Daphne nodded and spoke to Harry.

"Harry, you have to acknowledge the head elf's presence, ask him his name, then have him introduce the other elves. As the new Lord Potter, you then have to renew the bond with each of the elves," Daphne explained.

Hermione looked at Daphne with a shocked expression.

"What? I'm surprised you didn't know this protocol. Its in 'Hogwarts: A History' in chapter three hundred ninety-two, 'Headmasters Responsibilities to the Castle and Her Keepers'," Daphne explained.

"Daphne, you continue to amaze me!" Hermione exclaimed before giving her a less-than-chaste kiss.

Dan and Emma provided Hermione and Daphne their best goldfish impersonations, not quite understanding what the hell just happened.

Harry, in the meantime was taking Daphne's explanation to heart and had turned back to the kneeling elves.

"Greetings and Salutations. I am Lord Harry James Potter. Who are you?" Harry asked to the elf appearing to be the leader of these little beings.

The lead elf raised his gaze to his new lord. "Lord Potter, I am Garrote. I am the eldest Potter Family elf. It has been years since a Lord Potter visited this home."

"Garrote, what are the names of these others?" Harry asked.

Garrote stood and pointed at each of the elves. As they were introduced, they also stood. "Lord Potter, these are Dirk, Knife, Tang, Edge, Blade and Shank. We seven are the elves of the grounds and the keep." At the mention of "we seven", the other six elves appeared to stand a bit straighter.

"Are there other elves here as well, Garrote?" Harry asked.

"My Lord, there are also the elves of the manor, elves of the kitchens, elves of the towers and the elves of the borders and wards. In total, the Potter Family has one hundred three elves at this manor," Garrote said.

Harry, Hermione, Daphne, Sirius and Remus stood looking at Garrote with open mouths. Hogwarts had only between forty and fifty house elves.

Dan and Emma were watching these five wondering the reasons their reactions were ones of incredulity. After a minute of watching them look at one another then look at Garrote then look at one another again, Dan spoke up. "Garrote, do you know how much bigger the Potter ancestral home is than Hogwarts?"

"Yes sir. While Hogwarts is one hundred, ninety-seven thousand, six hundred and sixteen square metres when not magically enlarged. The Potter ancestral home's main structure is three hundred, forty-three thousand, twenty-seven square metres when not magically enlarged. Hogwarts is being able to expand various rooms to double the castle in size. I is not knowing how it was done by many Lord Potters ago, but the Potter ancestral home can grow as large as need be," the rugged little elf said somewhat abashedly.

Garrote squared his shoulders and asked the question that was on the minds of the elves present. "Lord Potter, will you do the honour of binding us once more to your line?" He asked, his voice filled with hope.

Hermione was prepared to speak but Daphne placed a finger up to Hermione's lips. "Shush, Mione, my love. These elves are only happy, healthy and viable with being bound. Without the family magics to support them, they would wither and die," Daphne explained.

Hermione nodded, understanding she was out of her depth.

With Daphne's prompting, Harry took his wand in hand and pointed it at the sky. She then coached him through the binding oath.

"I, Lord Harry James Potter, rightful head of the ancient and noble house of Potter, do hereby bind the Potter elves to my life and to my line from this hour henceforth until severed by my hand, death take me or the world end. So mote it be!" Harry, Daphne and Hermione felt the magical forces building to a crescendo as Harry spoke the words. With the end of the oath, they could feel a sudden release of power flowing from Harry, through Daphne and Hermione and rolling in waves towards the manor house. Several, smaller waves of power went in other directions. For a moment, the seven elves glowed with a golden aura. The magic was so palpable even Dan and Emma could feel it radiating off their daughter and her friends.

"Lord Potter has returned," Garrote said formally, then averting his eyes to the ground and taking a step back and to the left. The other elves lined up three on either side of the entryway as the portcullis opened. All of the elves stood a little taller; a little prouder. Their Lord had returned.

Hermione stared at Daphne for a moment. "Clearly the version of 'Hogwarts: A History' I have was heavily abridged," she said sarcastically.

Daphne laughed a delicate little laugh, darkening Hermione's expression. She saw this and explained, "Mione Love, I am not laughing at you. Since most blood purists have difficulty reading words greater than two syllables, I am not surprised they would choose to remove or modify the harder parts as well as abbreviate the remainder. Blood purists don't have much of an attention span. Likely they did it to increase sales as well as limit knowledge to those they deem unworthy. If they had known you would ever buy the book, they would never have published the current version for fear of all the information you would know is missing from it and would extrapolate some of it from the limited information in the 'Student's Edition'."

Hermione now had a small smile on her face, in silent agreement of Daphne's statement. Daphne, however was not yet finished.

"For example, Beloved, have you ever seen house elves mentioned in the edition you have?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Or perhaps it failed to mention the difference between the main kitchen, the staff kitchen and the secondary kitchens?"

Hermione was now listening intently.

"Perhaps it overlooked the weapons training rooms, used before wizards could make reliable wands? Did your edition mention the founders quarters or the many ways to enter them?"

Remus, Sirius, Harry and Hermione were looking at Daphne with shocked expressions.

"I take it, based on these four's expressions that they have no idea what you're talking about, Ms. Greengrass," Emma said.

Daphne was trying very hard not to laugh at the expressions on her lovers' faces, however she had to change one notion immediately. "Mrs. Granger, know that I have great respect for both you and your husband and would be honoured if you would address me as 'Daphne'. I hope, one day, to be permitted to address you less formally as well," Daphne said, no hint of the amusement she was feeling earlier.

Emma was about to respond, however Harry had other ideas. "Perhaps we should go inside, clean up a bit, possibly take a nap and discuss this during dinner?" he asked rhetorically. "Garrote, would you do us the honour of guiding us in our new home?" he said, gesturing for Garrote to lead the way into the manor.

"Lord Potter, it is not right that I walk in front of you. A house elf's place is that of a servant," Garrote explained in a halting way.

Harry knelt down so he was eye-to-eye with the elf. Garrote tried to look down but Harry called him out on it. "Garrote, please look at me when we talk." The elf raised his head and looked at Harry with fear in his eyes. Harry saw this and frowned a bit but continued on. "You are a living, thinking being. I class this as a 'person'. You and I are not all that much different, but I know some things are difficult for you due to your nature. I recognize these differences and, while I do not entirely understand them yet," he looked meaningfully up at Daphne for a moment, who was still looking between Hermione and Emma, "I will honour these differences and try my best to not cause any elf in House Potter to be uncomfortable. However, while I may be a lord, I was raised by people who treated me worse than Lucius Malfoy treated one of my great friends." Harry was briefly interrupted as all of the elves gasped in horror. The elves had heard stories from other elves about the way the Malfoys treated their elves.

Hermione felt she had to say something. "Its true, Garrote. While Harry wasn't tossed down stairs..." she stopped for a moment as Harry meaningfully cleared his throat. Hermione's face took on a countenance both Harry and Daphne had rarely seen in the past and never, ever wanted to see directed at them. Hermione's hair was suddenly blowing wildly and her fists clenched spasmodically. "I! Will! Kill! Them! SLOWLY!" Hermione screamed.

All of the elves cowered at the display of raw power as wave after wave of unfocused magic washed over the area.

Daphne pulled Hermione into an embrace and kissed her passionately. After a few seconds, Hermione's hair stopped moving of its own accord and her fists unclenched as she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Daphne.

Dan, who had been quietly talking with Remus and Sirius, was now doing a decent impression of a goldfish, while Emma stood closer to Harry and asked him in a whisper, "Does she get like that often and do these two kiss often like this?" as the two girls continued their kiss, lost in a world all their own.

"She only gets really upset when one of two things happens. Either when someone has written in or otherwise defaced a book or when she hears of my treatment at the hands of my mother's sister, her husband and their son," Harry explained easily then looked a bit timid of Emma. "As to them kissing often, that is something we should all talk about together."

Daphne and Hermione broke their kiss and just stared into one another's eyes before realizing that everyone, including the seven house elves were staring at them. The two girls were still embracing and it didn't look like either of them were ready to stop that just yet.

Hermione looked at Harry and smiled. "I think you were explaining something to Garrote, Harry," she said playfully.

Harry smiled at the two girls. "Thank you, Mione Love, for reminding me." He then turned to Garrote again. "Garrote, this is true for you as well as all of the Potter elves. My name is Harry. If it is causes too much discomfort to address me as 'Harry' then you may refer to me as 'Lord Harry' or, as a great friend of mine calls me, 'Master Harry'. Please reserve the honorific of 'Lord Potter' for formal events or when we are in public," Harry explained.

"M-M-M-Master H-H-Harry?" Garrote asked haltingly.

"Yes, Garrote, if that does not cause you too much discomfort," Harry agreed.

"Elves have never been given formal permission to speak the Lord's name before," Garrote said in awe.

"Surely my parents didn't want you to refer to them as 'Lord Potter' and 'Lady Potter' all the time?" Harry asked, uncomfortable with the answer he might receive.

"Your parents asked us if we could call them by their given names, but without formal permission, we could not do so," Garrote explained.

Harry understood that neither he nor his friends treated house elves the way other witches and wizards treated house elves, but he didn't understand the fear he was seeing in the eyes of the elves during this discussion, so he asked, "Garrote, did you explain to my parents about the need for permission?"

The youngest looking elf actually flinched at this question and covered her face with her hands. Garrote looked as if a basilisk was standing behind Harry. "Elves should not rise above their station and be explaining things to a witch or wizard, L-L-L-Master H-Harry," he said.

Daphne now felt the need to explain the situation. "Harry Love," she said. Harry turned to face her. "House elves' lives are tied to a family, an institution or an individual. Their magic is tied to and limited by the magical core of that individual. In the case of a building, such as Hogwarts, the elves' power is tied to a lode stone or the ley lines beneath or near the place. In the case of a family, the elves' power is tied to the head of the family, the lode stone or ley lines beneath or near the family property they are closest to and the magical core of the witch or wizard to whom they are most closely bonded."

"That makes some sense, I suppose," Harry said thoughtfully. This brought to mind a question about Dobby, but now was not the time to ask.

"But why is Garrote, and the other family elves looking like they're facing dementors?" Sirius asked.

Daphne nodded at Sirius and looked back to Harry. "Because they are being asked to explain something to their House's Lord and elves are only ever asked to explain their actions prior to being given clothes," she said.

Harry slapped his forehead then looked at Garrote. Garrote, as well as the other elves, had watched Harry slap himself. Garrote cringed and made himself still smaller, while the youngest one, Shank, who had previously covered her face, fainted.

"Garrote, I think I need to say this more formally, so here goes. I, Lord Potter, members of my family, members of my house, all whom are beholden to me, will NEVER give a Potter Family Elf clothes unless the elf specifically asks for them. So mote it be," Harry said this slowly and in an even tone of voice so as to not frighten the elves any more than they clearly already were. A mild wave of magic again flowed out of Harry, through Daphne and Hermione and washed over the elves. Harry was mortally offended that anyone would treat another person the way it seemed these elves expected him to treat them, yet he admitted to himself that the Dursleys had treated him as if he were a house elf.

The elves looked as if they had been expecting an explosion which had not gone off. They looked around at the people standing there then straightened up a bit, although still a bit hesitant.

"M-M-Master H-Harry punished himself?" Garrote asked.

This completely broke the tension and caused everyone except the elves to laugh. Sirius was holding desperately on to Remus to keep from falling on the ground. Emma and Dan were laughing more at Sirius' antics than anything else. Hermione and Daphne laughed a bit then cuddled in to one another and looked at Harry.

Harry was laughing due to him picturing himself trying to iron his ears, a punishment Dobby had apparently assigned himself when trying to warn Harry of Lucius Malfoy's meddling during Harry's second year at Hogwarts when Dobby was still beholden to House Malfoy. He then looked at Daphne and Hermione and smiled. He didn't think he would ever tire of seeing those two being so close.

The elves were in a bit of a quandary, although Blade, who was standing next to Shank, waved his hands minutely and roused the littlest elf. The Lord was laughing, but not at them. This had a different feeling to it. It felt almost like they, too, were elves and were sharing a joke with them. Like they were laughing with them. This was a most strange feeling, considering his thoughts at seeing his Lord strike himself. He was sure all the elves had been thinking something similar. "_If he hits himself for punishment, what horrific thing will he do to us or make us do to ourselves?"_

Harry turned back to Garrote. "Garrote, on occasion I do silly things. Regardless of that, however, I am not an all-knowing, all-powerful, always-right wizard."

Hermione stage-whispered, "...you've got that right..." to Daphne, earning her a feigned look of annoyance from Harry.

"Be that as it may. Garrote, what I am trying to say is that, from time to time, I will not know what the right thing to do is in a particular situation and I would ask you, or any of the Potter elves who are at hand, to either correct me if appropriate, or ask one of these two lovely ladies," Harry said, indicating Daphne and Hermione, "to let me know I am making an arse of myself. Can you do that?" he asked sincerely.

Garrote now looked completely horrified. Such was the level of his fear that he stared at Harry while walking over to Daphne and pulled on her skirt to get her attention. Garrote's eyes never left Harry.

Daphne knelt down to hear Garrote. He cupped his hands and, using elf magic, whispered so only Daphne could hear.

"Is Lord Potter knowing what he asks? He wants elves to correct him? Tell him how to do things? Can we be correcting him now? About this?" Garrote whispered into her ear.

Daphne pulled her head away from Garrote's head and cupped her hands in a similar fashion to Garrote's ear.

"Lord Potter is a unique wizard and does not understand all that there is to house elves. Whenever an elf is uncomfortable or unable to do as Lord Potter commands, they are to come get either Lady Hermione or myself and one of us will handle the situation. Let all of the elves know. Also, as far as when Harry asks you to walk in front of him, think of it as a way of protecting him. A witch or wizard might be wanting to ambush our Lord and it would be better if a house elf was guarding him from the front," Daphne explained.

Harry didn't know what the conversation was, but after Daphne whispered to Garrote, the relief and understanding the elf felt was clearly visible. "What did he say, Love?" he asked Daphne.

"He was just asking for some clarification," Daphne explained.

"And he knew you would provide it?" Harry asked, still somewhat confused.

"I am the one who has been explaining about house elves to you," Daphne said.

Harry nodded. "That makes sense. Always taking good care of me," Harry said with a smile. Daphne returned the smile.

Hermione knew Daphne wasn't telling the entire truth. Daphne had a habit of nibbling on her lower lip a moment before she would tell a small lie. She would tongue her teeth if it was a larger lie. Hermione wondered if Daphne even realized she had these, to Hermione, obvious signals.

"So, Garrote, how about that tour?" Harry asked.

-oOoOo-

After a clearly-abbreviated tour of the grounds by Garrote, the elf introduced the group of humans to Mint, the lead elf in charge of the manor. Mint was dressed in a similar uniform to Garrote and appeared with only three other elves.

"Master Harry, Lady Daphne, Lady Hermione, we did not know of your presence until just a short hour ago but the house and grounds," Mint paused, looking at Garrote, who nodded, "will be presentable shortly."

Mint was all business. "Master Harry, you and members of your party are tired. Rooms have been prepared for you," she said and motioned towards a grandly sweeping spiral staircase further into the middle of the room.

Harry was about to ask about a tour, but he was cut short by an overly-obvious yawn from Daphne. Noting Daphne's theatrics, Harry looked at Mint, "That would be appreciated, Mint. Thank you."

Once the group had all begun climbing the stairs, they found they were almost instantly on the ninth floor. Dan was not the only one who was surprised but he was the first to voice the question. "How did we get up here so quickly? I don't think we took more than 10 steps."

This time it was Sirius with the obvious answer. "Magic," he said with a hint of awe in his voice.

Mint, however, provided a more complete explanation. "Lord Timothy Potter the Third worked with Lithaldoren of the Western Vale," Daphne gasped at the name but Mint continued, "and his clutch to craft the enchantments on the manor thirteen generations before the cornerstone of Hogwarts was set. This staircase is one of many with fastwalking."

Daphne spoke with a sense of awe in her voice, "The moving staircases at Hogwarts are said to have been the only remaining enchanted works from the elves of the Western Vale. Those enchantments were said to have been done by Lithaldoren as well. I knew elves had long lives, but..." she trailed off in thought.

Mint led them down the hall. "Mr Lupin, this is your suite," Mint indicated a door on the right, "and across the hall is Lord Black's suite." The doors opened of their own accord. Both rooms were practical, if a bit lavish in the areas of comfort. Both men gravitated to the suites, the toll of their travels suddenly weighing upon them.

"Sleep well, Uncles," Daphne called after them,

Walking further down the hall, the group stopped at another door at Mint's prompting. "Master and Mistress Granger, this is your suite," Mint stated. The door of their suite opened onto a breathtakingly beautiful room with French doors opening onto a balcony looking out over the surrounding grounds to the East.

"Oh Hermione! It's beautiful!" Emma exclaimed, dragging a bemused Dan into the room. Harry, Daphne and Hermione stood in the doorway to the suite and watched as the two adults seemed to forget about everything but one another and the view of the surrounding land. Emma had opened the glass doors and stood on the balcony leaning into her husband, Dan's arms encircling her waist.

Daphne pulled the door closed, "I think they would appreciate some privacy," she said with a wistful smile on her face.

"The master suite is just at the end of the hall, Lord and Ladies Potter," Mint said.

Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione's and Daphne's waists and followed Mint to the end of the hall. The hallway emptied out into an immensely spacious indoor courtyard filled with greenery surrounding a central bubbling fountain with the occasional bench peaking out from beneath the leaves.

The trio was awestruck by the quiet splendour.

"This is the foyer for the master suite," Mint said in quiet, almost reverent voice. "Though the guardians are at rest, never fear they would not awaken to protect their family, should the need arise, My Lord," she said, as if this explained everything.

She led them to the cobblestone path around the fountain to the opposite side of the foyer, where two doors of mammoth proportion slowly opened. "This is the master suite, My Lord," Mint said simply.

Harry, Hermione and Daphne were thunderstruck. The stadium, as the word "room" did not do the architectural description any justice, was larger than the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Unlike the Great Hall at Hogwarts, the only columns in this room were are the edges. There was six metres between each of the two-metre diameter sculpted supports, no two of which were the same. The top of the domed ceiling was easily fifty metres from the floor. The master suite, too, was filled with greenery, creating a set of fourteen concentric circles.

Sensing the three were completely overwhelmed, Mint took Hermione's free hand and guided the trio through the low maze to the bed in the centre.

Harry seemed to come back to himself and noticed the large, round bed that was now directly in front of him.

"Thank you, Mint. I think the three of us will nap for a time," Harry said, his voice as distant as his thoughts were a moment before.

"Mint will come when you call, My Lord," she said.

"Thank you, Mint," Harry said absently as the little elf popped out.

Harry released the two young woman who were still looking around, clearly suffering from sensory overload. The aroma of lavender, heather, rosemary and sage gently filled the air. The foliage absorbed all sound and the room seemed to have the same silent quality as the forest on a cold morning, when the only sound was caused by the mist moving through the undergrowth.

Harry decided the best way for him to get the three of them to bed was to focus on what was right in front of him. He gently turned Hermione around so she was facing away from the bed and put a gentle, even pressure on her shoulders, assisting with her sitting on the bed. Once Hermione was seated, he did the same to Daphne.

This seemed to bring them back to the here and now.

"Harry, this place is amazing," Hermione said softly.

"I did not believe such a place could still exist," Daphne whispered reverently. "It was thought the last of the Circles of Ildsulald had been destroyed before the Ministry was formed."

Hermione and Harry looked at Daphne then looked at one another. Hermione found her voice first.

"Daphne-Love, when you have an opportunity, I would like to borrow your copy of 'Hogwarts: A History' please," she said.

Daphne simply nodded, still too overwhelmed by what she suspected this place was.

Harry, however was focusing. He knelt in front of Hermione and unlaced her boots before removing them. Hermione closed her eyes as Harry began gently massaging her feet.

"Mmmmmm...that feels so good," Hermione cooed.

Hearing this brought Daphne back to the here-and-now. Daphne leaned over and gently brushed her finger across Hermione's lower lip. "What was that for?" Hermione asked.

"Just wiping the drool off, Love," Daphne said with a wry smile. "Not to mention waiting on our Lord's gentle hands to give my feet equal time," she said as her eyes met Harry's and she licked her lips and blew him a kiss.

"As soon as I am done with Hermione-Love, your feet shall be the instruments of my love for you," Harry said with a hint of humor in his voice.

He hit a particularly tense spot on Hermione's arch, causing her to moan involuntarily in released tension and the pleasure derived from the physical gesture of love. Daphne pulled Hermione's head down to her shoulder and began gently but firmly massaging her head. While Daphne may have been on edge today, she realized Hermione must be all the more so tense with the upcoming conversation the three of them knew they were going to have with Hermione's parents.

Daphne and Harry continued to work on massaging the tension from Hermione's body. They both knew from their short time together that, while Hermione would probably like nothing better than to have a three-hour session of sexual abandonment with her two loves, the bone-deep tension would still be there and the three of them would be exhausted on top of it. Making love to Hermione by demonstrating their care for her through the manual release of her tension would do more good and she would know in the depths of her soul the love Harry and Daphne had for her.

They knew when to stop when Hermione began breathing the deep breaths of slumber. Harry stopped moving his hands and held her calves. Daphne gently laid Hermione down onto the bed. Harry levitated Hermione and moved her so Daphne could take off Hermione's clothes. Daphne had to concentrate on her task at hand as each time she let her mind wander around, she felt her self-control slip away and begin touching or fondling Hermione in some way. Her need to touch her two loves was still very strong.

Once she had Hermione undressed, she pulled the bedding down and Harry lowered Hermione onto the bed.

Daphne was watching Hermione with barely contained longing. "We're not going anywhere, Love," Harry whispered into her ear, startling her a bit.

"I know. I just...she's so beautiful and even when she's asleep, touching her is just..." Daphne was searching for the right word, when Harry offered his own.

"Intoxicating?" Harry asked.

"Yes, that's it. But I also feel like it could slip away. Like I am going to awaken and discover all of this...everything...has been just a dream. I think I fear the waking world more than I fear speaking with her parents," Daphne said, a tear running down her cheek as she gently brushed a sleeping Hermione's brow.

Harry wiped the tear from her face. He looked deeply into her eyes, his own glowing with his love for Daphne and Hermione, and cupped her cheek. "Daphne-Love, if this is a dream, I hope I never awaken from it, because I know I could never be happier in the real world than I am right now. I love you. I love our beautiful little sleepy-head here. Money means nothing to me. Possessions mean nothing to me. Fame means less than nothing to me. You and Hermione are my world. Without the two of you in my life, it wouldn't be worth living. Two years ago, I would never have believed if someone had told me I would be betrothed to two witches whose intellect was only surpassed by their beauty." Harry leaned in and kissed Daphne gently.

Daphne had unshed tears in her eyes. "_He really does love us. He really loves me," _she thought. Daphne felt her body melt underneath the onslaught of Harry's gentle kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and slowly opened her mouth and her need to him. The kiss took her breath away and caused a warmth to spread from her centre out to the tips of her fingers and toes. She pulled back from the kiss and breathlessly whispered, "Harry, make love to me?" It was hesitant, uncertain, but with an edge of need and desire.

He did not want to reject her but he wasn't ready to break a promise to Hermione. "I will, Love, after I've pulled the tension from you and let you two sleep," He said as he began undoing the buttons of her dress. "Do you have any idea what it means to me to have someone who doesn't make demands of me? Who wants me for whom I am and not what I am? Do you know how important it is for me to feel the tension leave your body as I run my hands over your tired, aching muscles? Do I want to make love to you? Most definitely. But I want our first time together to be gentle, tender and caring. I want to make love to your mind as much as to your gorgeous body. Do you understand?" While he spoke, he had removed all of her clothing and began taking the tension from her, starting as he always did, with the feet.

Daphne closed her eyes and nodded, feeling the tension leave her body and knowing without a doubt that Harry loved her as much as she loved him; as much as she loved Hermione.

-oOoOo-

Hermione awoke. It was dark. She was spooned around someone and in turn was being spooned by another. She was relaxed, warm, comfortable. She had a bone-deep sense of safety, as if nothing and no one could bring harm to her. At the moment, she did not know the reason she felt this way. Her logical mind could find no proof for this feeling, yet her instinctual self knew this. The same way she always knew which direction was North. She turned her head and looked up at the night sky. This bothered her but she didn't know why. She looked back at the sleeping witch in her arms. She felt Harry cuddle in closer and then felt him kissing the back of her neck.

"Hey there, Beautiful. How are you feeling, my Beloved Hermione?" Harry whispered, his lips gently blowing his warm breath across the fine hairs of her neck, sending chills up her spine.

"Loved." she sighed softly.

Harry gently ran his hand up her side, up her neck and slowly and gently began to softly rub her ear.

Hermione emitted a barely audible moan as the warmth and gentle pressure from Harry's finger and thumb seemed to pull her worries away and put her into a light doze.

-oOoOo-

Hermione woke again to the sound of a soft chime. It was still dark. "_Daphne must have gotten up,"_she thought as she was still being spooned but was no longer spooning Daphne. She felt lips kissing her shoulder.

"Hi there, Love. Where did our Daphne get off to?" Hermione asked sleepily.

Hermione was slightly shocked by the answer.

"I'm right here kissing you, Beautiful. Our Harry awoke and is entertaining your parents, Remus and Sirius," Daphne said, punctuating each word with a kiss on Hermione's neck or shoulder.

"My parents..." Hermione's voice trailed off, a note of sadness in it.

Daphne felt the fear Hermione was feeling. "Love, they are your parents. They may not understand. They may need some time to adjust. They'll still love you. Harry loves me, and I love him. You, however, have our very souls. There is nothing either of us would not do for you, Love. Do you understand how much you mean to us? How much you mean to me?" Daphne asked softly, her voice thick with emotion.

Hermione rolled over to face Daphne, a little smile on her face. "Then I'd better be careful what I ask for as the two of you mean more than life to me," Hermione said, pulling Daphne into an intimate kiss.

The chime sounded softly again.

Hermione looked up, trying to find the source of the chime.

"You won't find it," Daphne said knowingly, "it seems to come from every direction. I think its Harry's gentle reminder of our needing to get up and be presentable for dinner."

Hermione nodded yet pulled Daphne into her embrace again. "I don't want to let go of you," Hermione said, "I want us to be able to go away somewhere, just the three of us, somewhere where the outside world can't intrude upon us. Even if its just a month, or a week."

"I wish the same," Daphne whispered into Hermione's ear.

The two young women held one another closely until the chime sounded for the third time.

Daphne sighed, pushed away from Hermione and kissed her on her nose. "Come on, Lazy Love. Harry is waiting on us and I know you miss him as much as I do," Daphne said playfully and sat up on the edge of the bed.

Hermione sat up, perched behind Daphne, and wrapped her arms around Daphne. "We could just wait him out and make him come to us," Hermione said brightly.

"If I didn't want to make a good impression on your parents, I would consider the merits of that idea. While I don't expect your parents to love me, I don't want them to hate me for keeping their 'Kitten' away from them," Daphne said, a little smile playing across her face. She stood, pulling herself out of Hermione's embrace, and turned. She pulled Hermione to the edge of the bed and then pulled her off the bed to stand. "Come on, you lazy witch. Remember – good impressions with your parents!" Daphne said with a smile.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dear," Hermione responded playfully while rolling her eyes.

"Mint!" Daphne called. The elf popped in a respectful ten feet away.

"Yes, Lady Daphne?" Mint asked.

"Please tell Lord Potter his Ladies will join him shortly," Daphne said politely.

"Certainly, Lady Daphne," Mint said, then disappeared with a pop.

Daphne absently clasped Hermione's hand while she looked through her pile of clothing for her wand. Upon finding it, she cast some freshening spells on their clothes and helped Hermione dress. Once that was done, Daphne focused on herself, but never let Hermione stray out of arm's reach. When both of them were dressed, Daphne called for Mint once more and asked her to fix their hair.

Both of them closed their eyes as Mint took her instructions perhaps a shade too literally. Mint snapped her fingers three times. "Hows does that look, Ladies?" Mint said.

Floating in front of and behind their heads were two full-length mirrors, slightly curved so they could see both the front and back of their hair. They both gasped in surprise.

While Harry had washed both their hair just this morning, the natural waviness of Daphne's hair had straightened during their nap, even though she had kept it braided most of the day. Now, however, it was beautifully styled; forming a graceful cascade down her shoulders to the middle of her back giving the appearance of a waterfall of lush, soft hair. Framing her face were two stray curled locks. While she had dressed in her jeans, boots and blouse she had worn previously, they had been changed. She now wore a green strapless evening gown with silver trim. The gown was slit on both sides up to the top of her thighs.

Hermione's hair, which she would have described as unmanageably bushy on the best of days, was now styled into a complex weave of straight and curled hair atop her head, giving her the look of the most beautiful princess imaginable. Hermione's clothes had been transformed into a gown matching Daphne's but in red with gold trim.

Both women were speechless, giving concern to Mint that they may not like what she had done to them. "Is Ladies liking? I can set it differently if you would prefers," she said, wringing her hands in fear.

Daphne recovered from her shock first. "You are amazing, Mint!" she exclaimed.

"I should have you dress me and style my hair every day, Mint. This is fabulous!" Hermione exclaimed. She reached down and pulled Mint into a brief hug.

Mint was crying. "Only Lady Lily ever hugged Mint before. Mint just think pretty Ladies should be having nice clothes and nice hair. I would be honoured to help you every day, Lady Hermione," she said between sniffles. Mint snapped her fingers, causing the mirrors to disappear and popped away.

While Harry, Hermione and Daphne all felt a need to be in physical contact, Daphne believed her sense of need was stronger. What she didn't realize was that all three of them had the same level of need. Harry had a will of iron, though, and didn't want to seem a bother by, in his mind, always pawing his women. Hermione could impose her will unconsciously by focusing on her research or reading, however during times of strong emotion, her barriers would get torn asunder and her need became ravenous.

The two stood and Daphne turned to Hermione and ran her finger around Hermione's ear and down her neck. "You are so incredibly beautiful, My Love," Daphne said.

Hermione closed her eyes at the touch and felt Daphne's sweet, warm breath on her neck. She let out a soft sigh as Daphne gently kissed the cleft of her neck and shoulder. She opened her eyes as Daphne pulled away.

"We should get going or I will lose all my willpower and call for Mint to deliver Harry here so that I can ravish you both," Daphne said with an edge of frustration and fear in her voice.

"Love, when my parents see how irresistibly, stunningly gorgeous you are, they may try to steal you away from me out of selfishness," Hermione said lightly with a smile, trying to pull Daphne from her downward spiral.

Daphne clasped Hermione's hand and gently pulled it in a gesture of affection. Hermione wrapped her arm around Daphne's waist. "Come on, Beautiful, let's go meet the parents," Hermione said. Daphne nodded slightly.

"Mint," Hermione called. Mint popped in. "Could you please take us to where Harry and my parents are?" Hermione asked.

Mint nodded, taking hold of them and popping them.

-oOoOo-

While the master suite had been extravagant, the room Hermione and Daphne found themselves in could only be described as intimately cozy. It reminded Hermione of the Gryffindor common room. There was a large fireplace with enormous windows on either side. In front of it was a sitting area where Harry, Dan and Emma were situated. Remus and Sirius were sitting on a wide couch facing the fire, Dan and Emma were sitting in a loveseat and Harry was sitting facing them on a chesterfield with an empty seat on either side of him. Between the couch, loveseat and chesterfield was a low table covered in hor d'oeuvres.

"Well, I am pleased Hermione is safe here, but..."Dan had been speaking to Harry and was mid-sentence when he heard the pop of Mint's entry and turned toward the sound. "Holy...! Kitten!" he exclaimed as he stood, ignoring the plate on his lap that would have hit the floor if not for the quick intervention of Trix, the house elf serving them. Dan had never seen Hermione look so pretty. His emotions had gone from even keel to a complex mixture of love, awe and over-protectiveness in less than a second and had tears in his eyes. Here was his daughter as he saw her in his mind's eye, personified in the beautiful woman she had become, with another, equally-beautiful woman standing next to her.

At the same time, Remus and Sirius looked over. Both men's jaws dropped open and Sirius managed to spill his drink all down his front but didn't notice. While both of them had healthy appetites for beautiful young women, both of them knew in one look just how lucky Harry was. Sirius was fairly certain even James would have turned his head away from Lily to ogle these two stunningly beautiful, young women. In fact, Remus was certain Lily wouldn't have noticed James' attention on the two women as Lily herself would have been drooling after the two.

Emma had turned to look when Dan stood. While she knew her daughter was pretty, the sight before her was overpowering. This was not her bookworm daughter who grew up without friends to play with. This was Lady Hermione Potter in front of her, standing with her arm around the waist of another young woman whose beauty so well complemented Hermione's that is was almost too painful to view for Emma. She felt as if she was having an amazingly surreal dream where everything was too perfect to be real.

Harry looked over at Dan's exclamation and was struck speechless when he took in the vision of Hermione with her arm wrapped around Daphne. The two of them standing there were literally glowing in their beauty. While he thought both Daphne and Hermione were beautiful and had thought Hermione was the most beautiful girl at the Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball, here was not one, but two women whose beauty was radiating outwards, projecting it into the room. They were, quite literally, glowing. Harry slowly stood, setting his glass down on the table, unable to take his eyes from the sight before him.

"Hi Sirius, Remus. Hi Daddy. Hi Mum." Hermione said conversationally then turned to face Harry and her voice changed to sound like liquid sensuality, "Hello Harry." Hermione moved her arm from around Daphne's waist and took her by the hand. Leading a demure Daphne, Hermione walked over to the sitting area. She approached Dan first, who was clearly of the verge of tears, kissed him on the cheek and gave him a brief one-armed hug before turning to Emma and repeating the process. She then gestured towards Daphne, "Mum. Daddy. I want you to meet someone who is as equally important to me as Harry is. Someone Harry and I will be spending the rest of our lives with. This is Daphne and I love her and Harry with all my heart," Hermione said, as she looked into Daphne's eyes. Daphne was nearly paralysed with fear, although that was forgotten the moment she looked up and saw the love in Hermione's eyes.

There was a full thirty seconds of silence before Emma reacted. She looked at Daphne and clearly saw the love Hermione had for her. While this was not unexpected after watching the two of them kiss earlier, she had not entirely put together what she could see of the complexity of Hermione's relationship until now. While this was not the future Emma had envisioned for her daughter, even after Hermione became absorbed into the magical world, she would admit to herself later that she would be the last person to stand in the way of her daughter's happiness. Emma reached out and embraced Daphne in a gentle, motherly hug. "Welcome to the family, Daphne," Emma whispered to Daphne then kissed her on the cheek.

If Daphne had made a list of all the possible scenarios she had foreseen about this moment (and she had), this would not have been on it. Revulsion, hatred, disgust. These things she had envisioned. Emma's genuine and immediate acceptance had broken through all the emotional barriers she had built up for this moment and Daphne could not contain the release. She began openly crying on Emma's shoulder.

Hermione, having heard her mother's whispered welcome, also could no longer contain her emotions as she, too began crying tears of happiness and relief and joined in a three-way hug with her mother and Daphne.

Sirius, Remus, Dan and Harry, who had moved to stand next to Dan in the event of an emotional explosion, looked on at the three crying women. For Dan, it wasn't so much an explosion as a realization his daughter had grown up and had not one, but two people who loved her the way he loved Emma.

Dan looked at Harry and, wiping his eyes said, "I still get to do the scary father with you," and pulled Harry into a one-armed hug, returning his gaze to his wife, daughter and the young woman he would quickly think of as his second daughter.

Harry returned the hug, looking as the three women continued to hold one another.

"Since Sirius is his godfather, shouldn't he give Harry 'the talk'?" Remus asked jokingly, which it seemed neither Harry nor Dan had heard.

"We should join them and not let them forget we're here," Dan whispered to Harry, squeezing Harry's shoulder and moving to stand behind Emma and gently rub circles in her back.

Sirius and Remus gave them some space as Harry followed Dan's lead and moved to between Hermione and Daphne and gently rubbed circles in their backs. "Hey. Can we join in this group hug?" Harry asked with a smile.

-oOoOo-

Daphne felt surrounded by warmth and knew she was spooned around Hermione, who seemed to enjoy flower essences instead of the rather odd potions muggles brewed into perfumes. She inhaled deeply, filling her senses with the scents of heather, lavender, rosemary and sage from the indoor forest and a closer, slightly stronger scent of jasmine, invoking a memory from ten months ago, the morning after Hermione, Harry and Daphne bonded in The Wedding of Three.

-OoOoO-

As was tradition of the ceremony, Daphne had given Hermione a gift of the heart; a collection of flower oils and essences, as well as a set of books on their manufacture as a bonding gift. Although Hermione was still not entirely comfortable with having a three-way relationship with Harry and Daphne at the time, she chastely kissed Daphne on the cheek with a shy, whispered "thank you" before handing Daphne her gift: a Tome of Remembrance with instructions on its use; essentially a pensieve in book form. Hermione had already placed copies of all of her memories of Harry (with a suitable note of warning before some of them) and, surprisingly, all her memories of Daphne up to that day. Daphne had been too stunned to speak. While she had only spent a couple of hours at the herbalist assembling Hermione's gift, she realized Hermione had to have spent days copying the memories and placing them in the book and writing the descriptions of each of them. Harry had given both Daphne and Hermione Never-Dying Bouquets. While the bouquets had been almost identical, with yellow and red roses, whose stems were intertwined and surrounded by honeysuckle blossoms, Hermione's had a single red carnation while Daphne's had a single white carnation. The only reason Daphne had known these had a deeper meaning than being merely beautiful floral arrangements was the way Hermione had become tearful and had gently but passionately kissed Harry. Seeing her lack of understanding, Hermione had provided a whispered explanation to Daphne, after which Harry received his second, tearful, gentle and passionate kiss.

-OoOoO-

Daphne nuzzled into Hermione's neck and began softly kissing her bare neck and shoulder. Hermione had left her hair braided, making for easy access to her delectably sensitive neck. As Daphne was gently administering kisses, an act which had become automatic for her when she woke up spooned around her beautiful, brunette witch, she felt Harry shift in his sleep. She stopped what she was doing and carefully and slowly sat up so as to not awaken her two loves. She removed her wand from beneath her pillow and cast a silencing and a feather-light spell on herself. She paused a moment to grasp the bedding then lifted herself from beneath the covers and repositioned so her feet were on the ground before cancelling the feather-light spell. She checked on Harry to make certain he was not dreaming darkly again.

While their bonding had destroyed the Horcrux embedded within Harry's head, and Tom Riddle was finally dead and his followers utterly destroyed physically, politically and financially, Harry still had dark memories from those times when Riddle had slain innocents just to torment Harry. While he may have logically understood he was not to blame for their deaths, emotionally, Harry felt each innocent death most dearly. When Harry had these dreams, Daphne would spoon in behind him and Hermione would pull him into an embrace with her so that he was surrounded by two warm and loving witches.

Based on his expression, Harry was having a pleasant dream. The corners of his mouth were turned slightly upward in the barest of smiles and his entire being exuded a peaceful calm. He likely had other physical indicators, but he was currently under the blankets.

Daphne put a slight pressure on his shoulder and, in his sleep, Harry moved to spoon around their Hermione. "_Our Hermione,"_ Daphne thought. For as long as she had known about the little brown-haired genius, she had coveted her intelligence, her research ability, her courage, her beauty, her perfect smile and, most of all, her friendship and protection provided by Harry Potter. As Daphne grew into her teenage years, something had changed her feelings towards this amazing girl. Instead of coveting Hermione and the things she had, she began to admire Hermione. While she had a crush, of sorts, on Harry, she began to crush on Hermione as well. While she knew Harry was brave, he'd been sorted into Gryffindor after all, she hadn't ever believed the balderdash people would spew about him. From the too-perfect stories "everyone knew to be true" about him vanquishing Voldemort at fifteen months of age to the outrageous adventure stories written by charlatans during his pre-Hogwarts years to the absurd allegations made against him while he attended Hogwarts. They were all painfully-obvious lies and fabrications.

When she'd been accepted as a true, trusted friend by Harry and Hermione, she never imagined how horrific a dichotomy the stories about him versus reality were for the years Harry endured before coming to Hogwarts. She had not yet discussed her plans with Hermione on how to reward the Dursleys for their malevolence, but she would need to do so shortly less Hermione make their justly deserved reward too quick and painless.

Daphne had sat quietly while Harry spoke of the tenderness with which he had been raised; he stared at his shoes as he spoke of the nine and a half years before Hogwarts and his first four summers. She was told later that night by Hermione that Daphne had frightened Hermione nearly witless as Daphne's eyes had turned to bottomless pools of deep black while Harry recounted his story. Daphne worked on hiding her silent fury both to prevent frightening Hermione and to prevent so obvious a sign of emotion. She hadn't been sorted into Slytherin for nothing.

Looking down at Harry and Hermione laying spooned together, coupled with the memory of Hermione's parents accepting her, filled her with such an overwhelming sense of love that the surge of it across their bond woke first Hermione then Harry.

Hermione looked up into Daphne's eyes and could see the tears forming. "Darling," Hermione whispered and reached out to Daphne, "come lay with us," and held the blankets open.

Harry rolled onto his back to give Daphne space to lay down between them. "We sandwiched you in for a reason, Beloved."

Daphne nodded then felt herself lifted and slid beneath the covers between her two loves.

While Harry and Hermione had experienced this intense sense of belonging before, this was the first time for Daphne. She could always feel the love, strength and trust across their bonds before, this was the first time Daphne had been the source of the surge.

Harry took hold of her, pulled her on top of him and held her head against his chest as he spoke softly to her. "We love you, too, Little One. I know my love for you two grows every day," he said softly, kissing the top of her head.

Hermione moved closer, snuggled into Harry's side and softly stroked Daphne's cheeks. "I never thought it was possible for love to continue to grow, but being with you two causes my heart to have no boundaries," she whispered. She sat up a bit and kissed Daphne briefly.

As Harry gently stroked her back and Hermione deepened her kiss, Daphne felt chills go up her spine as spikes of lust and desire began flooding her bond from both Harry and Hermione. Daphne began moaning into the kiss as the feelings of being wanted began to overwhelm her.

Hermione gently pulled away and looked into Daphne's half-lidded eyes. "Are you ready, Love?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

Daphne nodded slightly then slowly looked up to Harry. Harry was looking down at Daphne and moved her so she was straddling him. All three of them were at a heightened state of arousal and carnal desire.

Their driving need to touch one another became an overpowering need to join in passionate, intimate love.

For the next six hours, they slowly and gently explored the limits of their sexual knowledge and desire. It was an exhausted but sated trio that fell asleep.

The trio were asleep when Mint popped in. She saw the three asleep and frowned. "_Lords and Ladies must not awaken in discomfort,"_ she thought and snapped her fingers. The trio briefly glowed a light blue and the glow faded. Mint nodded with approval and popped away.

-oOoOo-

The light streaming through the trees gently woke Harry. For the absolute first time in his life, he felt completely at peace with himself and the world. He had a happy little smile on his face and felt both Hermione and Daphne using his chest for a pillow. He opened his eyes and looked towards his two loves. Hermione was cuddled into his right side and Daphne on his left. Whenever he was in the middle, this seemed to be the configuration the ladies preferred. He had asked them about it at one point early in their relationship and received an odd, stereo response from the women, "It's the way we fit!" followed by a burst of giggling.

It was then that he had a sudden realization. He had no urgent need this morning. Normally, after sleeping longer than six hours, he would need to make a dash for the loo, especially with the weight of two heads on his torso. This morning, however, no such emergency reared its head. As he thought about this, he absently began running his hands over Daphne's and Hermione's scalps and running his fingers through their hair. He didn't know what Mint had done to Hermione's hair but instead of his fingers getting hopelessly tangled, her hair was soft and flowed about his fingers like water. The same was also true of Daphne's hair. He heard a soft pop but even his hunting-honed reflexes did not react to this, such was his sense of safety and comfort. He looked up and saw that Mint and Twix had popped in some distance away and were walking towards him.

Mint held her finger in front of her mouth in a gesture for Harry to be silent. Once she was next to the bed, she cupped her hand to Harry's ear so that her whispering would not disturb Hermione or Daphne.

"Master Harry," she whispered, "you and the ladies have slept twelve hours. Lord Black and Master Lupin made to sneak in to your chamber to awaken you but the guardians have taken exception to this and are detaining them in the foyer. In the past, it was enough for either myself or Garrote to give the guardians orders but it seems now that you have returned, they will only take instructions directly from you or Lady Hermione or Lady Daphne," she explained.

Harry had seen Daphne speaking to Garrote earlier and tried the same with Mint. He cupped her ear with his hand and asked, "Mint, are Lord Black or Master Remus in any danger?"

She again cupped Harry's ear, "Only if Lord Black or Master Remus attempt to harm the guardians, attempt to enter the master suite or leave the foyer, Master Harry," she answered.

Harry again cupped Mint's ear, "Can I call the guardians to me?" he asked.

"When they have prisoners, the alpha guardian will respond to Master Harry's call," she whispered in his ear.

"How do I call the alpha guardian?" he whispered back.

"Just say or think 'Guardians of the House, come to me' and the alpha will come," she explained.

"Should I wake these two before I do that? I don't want them startled," Harry whispered back.

Mint stood back and put her hand on her chin and thought for a moment. She then nodded and whispered to Harry, "I think that would be best. The guardians would feel badly if the alpha scared the Ladies of the House."

"Thank you, Mint," Harry whispered back.

Harry moved his hands to the Ladies' backs and began running his nails in gentle circles on their backs.

Hermione began making noises of awareness first. "Mmmmmm. Oooooh. Oh gods. To the left. A little more. A litttttle more. Ooh! There there there. Mmmmmm. Down. A bit more. There. Oh gods that feels good."

"Morning, Mione-Love," Harry said softly. "Could you help me wake Daphne? The three of us need to deal with a problem," he said quietly.

Hermione got an evil smile on her face which Harry could not see. Hermione had not yet noticed Mint was standing next to the bed. She moved to lay on top of Harry and continued sliding until she was spooned behind Daphne. She began kissing Daphne down her back while running her hands gently up the backs of Daphne's legs. She was about to touch Daphne in a most sensitive place when Harry brought her back to reality.

"Um, Hermione, we have an audience at the moment, and as much as I am sure Daphne would like to wake up to that, I am not sure she would appreciate company," he said.

Hermione looked up, straight into Mint's face. Hermione immediately turned a beet red in embarrassment and quickly moved her hands up to Daphne's shoulders. Although she intended to verbalize an apology, all that came out was, "Meep!"

"What did you do wrong, Mione-Love?" Daphne asked sleepily, waking up to Hermione's exclamation of embarrassment.

By way of an answer, Hermione said, "Good morning, Mint. How are you today?"

"Good afternoon, Lady Hermione. Mint is doing well but is concerned for Lord Black and Master Lupin and have asked Master Harry to intervene. I is sorry for having to awaken you, but I did not want Lady Daphne or you to be frightened," Mint said nervously.

"That was very thoughtful of you, Mint, as was the Ago Eluo you must have cast on us," Daphne answered, "Thank you, Mint."

"Daphne-Love, do you know what to expect when I call the alpha guardian to me?" Harry asked.

Daphne looked up at Harry with wide eyes, "The House has more than one guardian?" she exclaimed in a squeak.

"Apparently so," Harry answered.

Mint nodded animatedly, "The House has many many guardians, Lady Daphne," she said.

"Mother of Merlin!" Daphne exclaimed in a shocked whisper.

"What is it, Daphne?" Hermione asked in concern. It was extremely rare for Daphne to curse.

"Mione-Love, you have to prepare yourself. As both you and I are bound to Harry, the guardians should be equally protective of us, but to be safe, don't make any sudden moves and whatever you do, don't yell or scream. Guardians are VERY protective of the Lord of the House," Daphne explained fervently.

Hermione nodded and, as a protective measure, put her fist in her mouth.

"Okay, I am calling the alpha then," Harry said.

"Guardians of the House, come to me," Harry said in a calm voice.

The massive doors of the master suite opened outwards and struck their stone stops at granite-shattering velocities, although the great doors and their stops were undamaged.

Harry and Hermione were imagining some huge, dementor-like creature of darkness based on the way Mint had described them. Daphne thought she would faint away when she finally saw the guardian based on what she had read in the ancient tomes she had inherited from her great-great grandmother.

The books had all agreed that the guardians of ancient and noble houses were all fierce, but the absolute worst, most powerful, demonically fierce guardians were those of the Founders' Families, of which Potter was one. From the doors to the bed were fourteen layers of foliage, from mere hedges to great trees. It was clear each time the alpha guardian had passed through one as they would shudder violently in its passing. It was about to enter the final circle of foliage. Hermione and Daphne both suddenly buried their faces into Harry's chest, fearing what they were about to be faced with.

Suddenly it was through the final barrier and leapt onto the bed.

Harry looked on at the guardian in shock. Although he could feel his sense of safety grow stronger as this creature had gotten closer, it was all he could do to not react when it finally leapt onto the bed.

It was only then that the three of them heard an excited little girl's voice in their heads.

"_The Lord really is back! The Lord really is back! And he has two mates! We are so happy!_"

This mental exclamation broke through Harry's shell. He began giggling.

Hermione and Daphne looked up at Harry. Hermione then felt a light weight suddenly on her back and a soft, gentle, furry pressure on her cheek and a very loud purring sound in her ear. She turned her head to look, and there just walking off her shoulder was an adorable green-eyed, black kitten.

"Isn't she a little cutey," Hermione said in a cooing voice. Daphne couldn't see the kitten because it had walked onto her back. Hermione slowly sat up and picked the kitten off of Daphne and cradled the kitten in her arms. "She's so soft," Hermione said in wonder and started scratching the kitten's chin and ears..

Daphne rolled over and looked at the little ball of fur Hermione was holding and could clearly hear, "_Oh yes. Right there! Right there! Haven't been scratched by the Lady of the House in too long,_" in the same little girl's voice.

"This is the guardian, Mint?" Daphne asked incredulously of the elf.

Mint was staring at the kitten in horror. "Lady Daphne, I has never seen the alpha guardian picked up before. I is not knowing if this is safe for Lady Hermione," Mint said, quivering in fear.

"_We would never hurt the Lord or Ladies of the House,_" all three heard in their heads as the kitten rubbed its head against Hermione's hand.

Harry had finally controlled his reaction to the guardian although he still had a smile on his face. "Guardian, do you have a name by which we may address you?" he asked aloud.

"_We are Amunet, daughter of Asenath, daughter of Dalila, Alpha Guardian of House Potter and we answer to none but you, my Lord and Ladies,_" they heard in their minds. The kitten had stopped its rubbing and was looking directly at Harry.

"My apologies for laughing, Amunet, daughter of Asenath, daughter of Dalila, but I had been expecting you to be more...impressive," Harry said.

"_My Lord, you need but refer to us as Amunet. The full honorific is only used for blessings, remembrances, challenges and introductions and, as my Lord, we would always submit you as the victor of any challenge you would call for against a guardian. It is our code. As to being more impressive, we had not wished to cause the Ladies of the House any reason to attack us or challenge us as we would not harm them so. Unless we need respond in their presence to a threat, will always come into their presence in our family form. When we are asked to be present with guests, we will appear in our pride form. And when we are called upon to protect, and the need is great, we shall appear in our dire form. We see the Lord and Ladies have these forms as well, though do not seem to know them yet,_" Amunet said, again, speaking into their minds.

"Would you show us these forms, Amunet?" Hermione asked.

Amunet turned her gaze to Hermione, rubbed her arm one more time then jumped down onto the bed, rubbed against Daphne then moved towards Harry who also pet the little kitten for a moment. The kitten then stood on the edge of the bed.

"_This is my family form,_" she said.

She then jumped down onto the floor. As she hit the floor, she grew so that her head, when standing on all four feet, was two metres above the floor, her head was easily four times wider than Harry's with her canines or fangs reaching nearly 30 centimetres. Her eyes were the same jade green as Harry's eyes.

"_This is my pride form_," she said, "_We cannot demonstrate our dire form in these confines, but we have only ever once been called upon to appear in our dire form in the defence of our House,"_she explained.

Timidly, Daphne asked with a sense of awe in her voice, "May I touch you, Amunet?"

"_We are happiest when in contact with our Lord and Ladies. We are content to be close to our Lord and Ladies. We live but to serve,_" she said.

Daphne sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. She stood and slowly approached Amunet, who stood literally head and shoulders above the young woman. Amunet carefully lay down at Daphne's feet so her head was level with Daphne's shoulder.

Daphne could not believe how safe, truly safe, she felt in the presence of this majestic being. She reached her hands out and began gently scratching Amunet's chin with her fingernails.

"_Lady Daphne, we do not know what we have done to deserve such a blessed reward, but please tell us so we may do so it again and again,_" Amunet said. Her purring in this form was a loud, reverberation, sounding as loudly as a muggle lorry idling. It was a deep, pleasing vibration. Daphne was amazed at the softness of Amunet's fur and could feel her worries and stress bleed off as she gently scratched Amunet's chin and ears.

Hermione, too, slid off the bed and began scratching her ear and the bridge of her nose.

"Your fur is so soft and you are so beautiful," Hermione said.

"_It is kind of you to say so, Lady Hermione,_" Amunet said, "_It is our nature to be pleasing to our Lord and Ladies. Were an enemy of the House foolish enough to come near us or attempt to touch us, our fur would be like barbs, our breath like poison and fear would grip their heart, freezing them in place._"

"I don't think I have ever felt safer in my life," Daphne cooed. "It's Harry's luck again, Mione-Love," Daphne said with a smile.

"What do you mean, Darling-Love?" Hermione asked quizzically.

"I never equated it before meeting Amunet, but only Harry could have a pride of Nundu as guardians," Daphne said then giggled. Hermione joined in the giggling for half a minute before Harry also moved off the bed and Hermione and Daphne moved so he, too, could scratch an ear and pet a shoulder. "You are truly amazing, Amunet. House Potter is truly blessed to have such a fine alpha guardian," Harry said.

"_Thank you, Lord Harry, but it is we who are honoured and blessed to be guardians of House Potter. Before our pride was accepted as members of the House, we were hunted by dwarves, slaughtered by goblins and nearly annihilated by Wizardkind. They misunderstood and feared us. Only the elves understood us and, when they passed from this land, entrusted us, the pride of Auset, to House Potter. In return, we swore an oath to uphold our code to the House. We became the guardians. For many ages of Wizardkind we have been vigilant in protecting House Potter." _She paused and became sad, it seemed. "_We failed in protecting your sire and his mate and our hearts have been heavy with grief. Bast, daughter of Bennu, daughter of Dalila, blessed Great Alpha Guardian, flew to your sire's mate's side but was too late to save her. When we saw what that abomination of nature was doing to her now-Lord, we used our life force, and entered into our shadowfire form to ensnare the abomination and tear his magic open. We were strong, but his magic was great and his spirit broke free." _Her mental voice broke and the large head sagged in sorrow. "_We are sorry, My Lord. We failed you when you needed us most,"_ Amunet cried in utter despair.

"Amunet, return to your family form," Harry said gently. Suddenly he had a kitten laying on his arm. He pet the kitten with long, gentle strokes. "The guardians did not fail me or our House. I am here. My Ladies are here. We do not feel the guardians have failed us. We do not feel you have failed us, Amunet. House Potter is proud to have such powerful, dedicated, loving, honourable, diligent guardians protecting the House," Harry said earnestly, trying to convey the complex feelings he was having, seeing such an indescribably beautiful creature clearly in such emotional pain. He couldn't explain how, but he could sense his words were easing Amunet's emotional distress. "In my greatest hour of need, Bast, daughter of Bennu, daughter of Dalila, blessed Great Alpha Guardian, did, without hesitation or fear of death, give her own life so that I could live," Harry said, with tears in his eyes. "There is no greater gift than to give one's life for one's House and House Potter is humbled by her sacrifice," he continued, his voice thick with emotion. He stared off into the distance for some time, absently petting Amunet. He was taken from his thoughts as Mint drew his attention.

"Master Harry," Mint whispered loudly.

"Yes, Mint?" Harry asked, turning his attention away from his petting of the kitten.

"Lord Black and Master Lupin are still..." she began before Harry cut her off.

"Quite right, Mint. Remind me to smack myself in the head later," Harry said.

Mint looked at Harry in horror then looked at Daphne and Hermione Daphne just shook her head and mouthed, "No need, Mint," to the elf.

"Amunet," Harry began, "it seems two men came into the foyer..." but was cut off by a venomous, loud hissing sound from the kitten and an angry little girl's voice in his head. Daphne and Hermione also heard this.

"_Those...those...those...WIZARDS were going to commit a heinous crime against our Lord and Ladies. We were about to consume them when this one,_" the kitten looked at Mint,_ "told us we were not to do so as these WIZARDS were thought to be friends of the House. We do not understand how this could be true but stayed our hunger to insure we were not damaging the reputation of our House,"_ Amunet explained, with evident hatred for Sirius and Remus in her soul.

"What was this heinous crime they were going to commit, Amunet?" Daphne asked.

"_They were going to commit an act most foul. An act worthy of a slow, exquisite digestion. Their feeble minds thought they would pour buckets of iced water onto our Lord and Ladies. We are currently awaiting our Lord and Ladies' pleasure concerning them. While WIZARDS,"_ she said this word with intense hatred, the kitten hissing and spitting each time the word was said,_ "taste foul, we __would gladly consume them to prevent them from harming our House,"_ she said.

"Amunet, why don't the five of us go out to the foyer and discuss this with our friends. They really are our friends, although we are pleased the guardians prevented them from harming our person and are not at all upset you prevented them from carrying out their intended actions," Hermione said.

"Mint, would you please help us dress and pop us out to the foyer," Daphne asked.

Mint nodded and snapped her finger three times. Harry was now dressed in a soft, cotton tunic. Both Hermione and Daphne were dressed in diaphanous white gowns and their hair was styled as fit their station and attire, cascading down their shoulders.

Looking lecherously at Daphne and Hermione, Harry said, "Very nice. It is no wonder my Ladies speak so highly of you, Mint," causing Mint to blush brightly.

"Thank yous, Master Harry," Mint said. She snapped her fingers once more and the five of them appeared in the foyer.

The scene they came upon would have chilled them to the bone if they had not known Sirius and Remus were in no danger. It was clear from their demeanour, the odour and the obviously-soiled robes that neither Remus nor Sirius knew they were in no danger. Each man was pinned face-down on the ground with their heads held in the mouths of two clearly-angry, massively large, growling, drooling guardians, easily half again as large as Amunet in her pride form.

"_These are Bomani, son of Bahiti, daughter of Bastet,_" Amunet said. One of the guardian drew its lips back in what could only be a smile, "_and Chike, son of Eshe, daughter of Femi,"_ the other guardian drew its lips back.

"_Bomani, Chike. Our Lord has said Mint spoke truth, as she always has in the past, and that these two are truly Friends of the House,"_ Amunet said to the two guardians.

Bomani, the cat holding Remus, questioned this instruction. "_Alpha, this one tastes of blood of the shadow dogs,"_ he said. _"We should kill him to keep our Lord and Ladies safe."_

"_Does he taste of the blood of children or cub?"_ Amunet asked.

"_No, he does not,"_ Bomani answered, "_but there is another taste of calming grass and dream leaves."_

"We know of this about this one and know of his affliction and do not fear him for he is a friend," Harry said.

The big cats opened their mouths and moved away from the two supine wizards and moved to lay at Harry's feet, between him and the two soiled marauders.

"_We apologize, Lord and Ladies of the House. We submit to your punishment," _The trio heard in stereo male teenage voices.

"You did not know and so no punishment shall be given," Harry said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"_Our Lord and Ladies are generous and kind,_"Bomani and Chike said.

Remus and Sirius were coming out of the lingering effects of the presence of the cats. It was Remus who found his voice first.

"Oh thank Merlin! Harry! You saved us! I thought for sure we were going to die!" Remus exclaimed while rising to his knees and holding himself tightly, sobbing out each word.

"Harry! We thought we were done for! I couldn't even switch to Snuffles! I thought we were going to get eaten!" Sirius exclaimed, beginning to move towards Harry when Bomani stood back up to his full height and growled. Sirius quickly retreated. Seeing the wizard had moved back to a respectful distance, Bomani lay back down at Harry's feet.

"_Can you hear me if I think to you, Bomani and Chike?"_ Harry thought.

"_Yes, Lord. We can hear you speak to us in the silence of our minds,_" Amunet replied.

"_Bomani, Chike, do you think you could turn your heads and growl angrily at these two when I say 'Now'? I want them to know how poor an idea it was to think of pouring iced water on my mates,"_ Harry thought to them.

"_As you command, Lord of the House,"_ he heard in reply.

"Sirius, Remus, how did the two of you get into the predicament with the guardians?" Harry asked them innocently.

"We were coming to check on you as the three of you hadn't shown up for supper, breakfast, brunch or lunch," Remus began, "and we were worried."

"_Now_," Harry thought.

The two enormous cats stood and began growling and pacing between Harry and the two Marauders, their eyes never leaving the two wizards.

"I don't think the guardians would have responded as they did if you were just checking on us, Remus," Hermione said, her gown and the vision beneath it causing his breath to catch when Remus looked up at her. It also caused his brain to leak out his ears.

Remus swallowed loudly. "Well, Sirius also thought it would be a good idea to prank you," Remus said then put his hands over his mouth.

"_Now_," Harry thought.

The two cats drew their ears back and began looking from Remus to Sirius, growling and stopped their pacing.

"Really. Godfather? How were you intending on pranking my husband, my sister-wife and I?" Daphne asked with a low growl in her voice. Both of the male guardians looked at Remus and Sirius and also let out a low, yet powerful, growls for only a few seconds before lowering themselves as if to pounce.

"It wasn't anything really mean, Daphne. I assure you..." Sirius began, only to note that Harry was petting a kitten. A black kitten. A bristling, green-eyed, black kitten that was staring right at him and looked on the verge of leaping down and tearing his eyes out and eating his tongue. It hissed at him with its ears drawn back.

Harry looked down at the kitten and stroked it, making cooing sounds at it. Amunet looked up at Harry, her entire countenance changing to that of an adorable little ball of fur.

"Really, Sirius? Because I have it on good authority you were going to dump iced water onto my bed," Harry said seriously, trying his best not to laugh. Sirius and Remus both gulped loudly.

Harry continued. "While I might find it amusing, at some later date, being essentially dunked in cold water, you were going to step over a line. You were going to dump iced cold water on my wives," Harry thought "_Now_" to the guardians once more. Bomani and Chike may have overdone it a bit. They hated swimming in cold water and could only imagine how long it would take their Lord's mates' mane to dry since it was so much longer than their own fur. They had been taught from cubs to hate wizards and goblins to their very bones. That these wizards would dare to harm their charges caused them to bristle to their very sinews. They bunched themselves as if on the verge of pouncing, their muscles rippling as they began growling, their lips peeling back from their fangs. Bomani looked at Remus. Chike looked at Sirius. As one, they roared, spit flying off their teeth and drenching the kneeling wizards' faces. Sirius feinted. Remus wet himself again.

"Please don't consider pranking my wives again in any way which might embarrass them. If you think the guardians are upset with you, Remus, think about how upset Daphne and Hermione would have been if you had been successful," Harry said. Remus; eyes rolled into his head as he fainted at the thought of BOTH witches seriously cheesed off at him.

"Nicely done, guardians," Harry said. "I think that was worthy of scratches. Bomani? Chike? Would you object to Lady Hermione and Lady Daphne scratching your ears and chins?" Harry asked.

"_We are not worthy of such a reward, Lord,"_ Bomani said.

"Ladies, do you feel they deserve to be scratched?" Harry asked.

Hermione didn't say anything. She simply walked up to Bomani, who looked down at her, reached up and began scratching his chin. She did so for about thirty seconds before he lay down in utter bliss.

Daphne walked up to Chike. "Could you please lay down first, Chike? I don't like to be interrupted when giving rewards," Daphne explained.

Chike lay down, not knowing how to reply, and Daphne began scratching him. Both males were clearly enjoying the attention as both were purring easily twice as loud as Amunet had done before.

Harry continued to pet Amunet and scratch her ears and chin. He clearly had the easier job as petting and scratching a kitten was a lot less work than petting and scratching a great cat that likely weighed more than most sports cars.

After fifteen minutes of providing attention to Bomani and Chike, Amunet hopped down from Harry and walked between the two cats, changing to her pride form. She could see Hermione and Daphne were getting a bit fatigued from giving attention to such large creatures.

"_Enough!" _she gently exclaimed, more to let the Ladies know they should stop being so indulgent. Although Bomani immediately opened his eyes and managed to look a bit guilty, Chike had rolled onto his back a few minutes prior and Daphne had begun scratching his chest. When Daphne stopped, Chike let out a warning growl without even thinking. Daphne moved away quickly, drawing her wand and putting herself between Chike and Hermione, fearing the great cat would attack. Amunet, however, was already between Daphne and Chike and had her mouth wrapped around his throat and her own growl helping to set the tone of the conversation they were having.

"We_ DARE threaten a Lady of the House when she has been rewarding us?" _Amunet yelled.

"_Forgive us, Alpha. We forgot our place and meant no disrespect,"_ Chike replied fearfully.

"_It is not us to whom we owe an apology. We have frightened a Lady of the House. A Bearer of Cubs. A Great Daughter. We are unworthy,"_ Amunet said.

"_Allow us to do what is necessary to make amends. We swear it,"_ Chike begged.

"_Very well,"_ Amunet said, releasing his throat and allowing him to roll onto his feet and crawl over to Daphne.

"_Great Lady of the House, we forgot our place. We had no right to threaten you. We shall leave and never return. We hope that, in time, you will forgive our line," _Chike said quietly. He stood and turned to leave, his head hanging low.

"Stop," Daphne commanded. The great cat stopped walking but did not turn around. "Return to your family form and come to me," Daphne said.

Chike shrank to the size of a kitten, turned around and walked to Daphne, his head still hung low.

"_You need not bloody your hands, Lady Daphne. We will end our line for you,_" Amunet said.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Shush, Mione-Love. Amunet, it is not my intention to end his line, or to have you end his line today," Daphne said, picking up Chike by the scruff and looking at him in his eyes. Chike looked back at Daphne, sitting limply in her hand. Daphne took her other hand and gently thwacked Chike on his nose with her index finger. "Bad kitty! Apology accepted. Don't let it happen again, ever," this last word she growled. "I understand you have not been around wizardkind for some time. Should it happen again, I will not be so easily forgiving. Do you understand?" Daphne asked seriously.

"_Lady Daphne, we are unworthy of your kindness and forgiveness,"_ Chike replied.

"Nevertheless, I am forgiving you. This time," she responded.

"_Lady Daphne, we thank you with our life for your forgiveness. We would rather end our line than to ever attack a member of the House,"_ Chike said.

"Well," Harry said, trying to sound nonchalant, "now that we have that all sorted out, I have a question. How many guardians are there?"

"_All of us are guardians, Lord,"_ Amunet replied.

"How many is all of you?" Harry asked.

"_We do not understand, Lord. All is all. If one is, that one is a guardian. All of us are guardians,"_ Amunet said, as if that answered the question.

"Amunet, our Lord is asking for an explanation for Wizardkind. Is there enough guardians for one to be in each room of this castle at the same time?" Daphne asked.

"_Yes, Lady Daphne. Is this what you would like us to have done?"_ Amunet asked.

"No, Amunet. I am just trying to help answer our Lord's question in a way he will understand. Is it possible to meet all of the guardians at one time, Amunet?" Daphne asked.

They could sense Amunet's surprise and fear, "_This has not happened since the time of the Elves. Is our Lord so displeased with us he wishes to release us from our oath?" _she asked.

"No, Amunet, our Lord wishes to simply convey our greeting and House Potter's thanks to their honourable, brave work," Daphne said, nibbling her lower lip.

"_This can be done in four cycles of the Great Mother Light," _Amunet said. _"We will need to meet in the plain to the North for all to be in one place,"_ she continued.

"Mint, Lady Hermione, Lady Daphne, Amunet, Bomani, Chike and I will be going downstairs to eat dinner. Could you please wake these two overgrown boys, get them showered," Harry was interrupted by Hermione.

"Showered in ice-cold water," she said with a vicious grin, looking at an equally vicious grin on Daphne's face.

Harry continued, "Yes, showered in ice cold water, dressed in clean clothes and brought to dinner, please."

"Mint will do as you ask," she said.

Bomani returned to his family form and looked up at Hermione eagerly.

Hermione's face melted into a little smile, "Oh what a cutie!" she exclaimed and picked him up.

The trio walked downstairs for dinner with matching white outfits and matching black kittens.

-oOoOo-

Dan and Emma were in the library, having an energetic discussion many parents have.

"He's sleeping with our Little Baby and our Little Daphne," Dan complained for the third time, as if that was all he needed to say.

"Daniel Robert Granger, Hermione is nearly an adult, it is clear the three of them love one another, if I understand correctly, all three of them are married to one another. I don't really know why, but I think of Daphne as my daughter as well. What possible objection could you have to our daughters sleeping with Harry?" Emma asked incredulously and rapidly running out of patience with her own life partner.

"They're too young. He's a teenage boy. I know how they are. All physical with no depth of emotion whatsoever, saying anything to get into their knickers," Dan said vehemently. "He just wants to fuck them!" he exclaimed.

Unbeknownst to Dan, Harry, Daphne and Hermione had quietly walked into the room, and had overheard Emma's previous comment.

Dan turned when he heard Hermione and Daphne giggle. "Kitten?" he asked in a panicked voice.

"Daniel Robert Granger! Language!" Emma exclaimed.

Harry was stone faced. He would let Hermione take the lead in this matter as Dan was her father, but Harry was deeply hurt. Here was a man Harry respected who had just called into question his honour, integrity and intentions.

Dan took in the scene in front of him. His daughters, as he now thought of Hermione and Daphne, looked like goddesses in their gowns. They each had a kitten climbing up their blouses to perch on their shoulders. Harry, also dressed in white, also had a kitten who had already reached his shoulder. Unlike Hermione and Daphne, who were giggling, Dan noted, Harry and the three kittens were staring at him with unblinking eyes.

"Girls? What had you so amused?" Emma asked, trying to understand the dichotomy of Harry's demeanour to that of Daphne and Hermione.

Hermione and Daphne took a moment to compose themselves. Hermione looked at Harry for a moment then reached up on her tip-toes and whispered something into Harry's ear. Harry's entire countenance changed which was clearly obvious to all present as his stature changed from one of rigidity and tension to a relaxed stance with a slight smile on his face. Hermione then turned back to face her parents with an arm around Harry. Daphne snuggled into his side. The kittens continued to unblinkingly stare at Dan.

Hermione looked into her mother's eyes and with an honest smile on her face spoke to her. "Mum, Daphne and I should apologise. It's just that between last night and the absurdity of the comment, it was just too funny." She then turned to her father and the smile faded to a hurt look. "Daddy! Do you know how long it has taken Daphne and I working at Harry to get him to be physically affectionate with us? Do you know how much respect Harry has for Daphne and I? Do you know anything at all about how much your opinion of Harry counts to him? How much he respects your perspective? How much he had hoped you would be supportive of Daphne's and my relationship with him? It had taken us ten months to get him from kissing us to last night. You can do the scary daddy thing to him if you want, but you will never ever question his honour and integrity when it comes to Daphne and I." Hermione finished, unshed tears of anger and frustration in her eyes.

"But, Kitten..." Dan began but was immediately cut off by Daphne.

"Don't you 'But Kitten' my Hermione. Harry would walk through horrors unimaginable, battle trolls, slay basilisks, kill dark lords and slaughter evil men by the dozens to keep my Hermione safe, so don't you dare 'But Kitten' her. Both of us are very upset with you at the moment. I want to call you 'Daddy' and you," she turned to Emma briefly with a genuine smile, "Mum," then directed her attention back to Dan and frowned again, "but you may have ruined all of that with your thoughtless words and your arrogance. Besides," and Daphne's smile grew as she turned to Hermione, "as far as I know the only one whose ever fucked our Hermione is me."

"Daphne!" Harry and Hermione exclaimed scandalously.

"Well, okay, maybe not 'fucked' per se because I did love her at the time, but we both enjoyed ourselves and my goal was to make her have as many orgasms as possible," she said, causing Hermione to nod and blush beet red. She turned back to Dan and asked innocently, "Does that count as 'fucking'?"

Dan was brought out of his shock at what this beautiful young woman was saying by Hermione.

"Daphne Ophelia Potter! Language!" Hermione said, still blushing.

"It is English, Hermione Jane Potter, but I would have thought you knew that," Daphne said with an unrepentant smile.

Dan looked at Daphne. "Potter?" he asked weakly. Daphne nodded.

He turned his head to Hermione. "Potter?" he asked. Hermione emphatically nodded.

Dan hung his head in shame. "Harry...Son, I apologise for thinking the very worst about you," he said then looked up at Harry and walked over to shake his hand.

Daphne and Hermione released Harry with a squeeze and Harry moved to take the offered hand.

Dan took his hand and pulled him into a hug. "Forgive me?" Dan fervently whispered into Harry's ear.

"I forgive you, Mister Granger. You're just looking out for my girls and I appreciate that," Harry said.

Dan released his hug and looked at Harry. "Please call me 'Dan', Harry." Dan said.

"Okay, Dan," Harry responded.

"Can I still do the 'father of girl children' scary thing? I've been practising it since Emma became pregnant," Dan explained sheepishly.

"I'd like that, Dan. I'll need to know how to do it for our daughters and I would like to learn from the best," Harry said honestly.

Dan smiled. "Harry, I think I am going to like you," he said

Emma then asked the obvious question as she walked up to embrace Hermione and Daphne, "Where did you three get these adorable kittens?"

This caused Harry, Hermione and Daphne to all giggle.

-oOoOo-

The four adults and three teenagers sat down to dinner. The kittens remained perched throughout dinner on the teenagers' shoulders.

Harry was in the middle of explaining to Emma and Dan the reason Remus and Sirius had taken so long to find them and why they were so late coming to dinner.

"Where did your family get Nundu from anyway, Harry?" Remus asked. "I nearly soiled my trousers when I saw it come at me!" Remus exclaimed.

"Nearly?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smile.

"I didn't soil my trousers until it's teeth touched my forehead and even then, it wasn't until I realized it's fangs had completely missed my head and it was the 'little' teeth in between that were dimpling my forehead and the base of my skull. THEN I soiled my trousers."

Daphne was laughing loudly and trying not to snort as Sirius tried hiding under the table in an effort to hide his embarrassment.

"Now Remus, please don't faint on us again," Harry began, causing Daphne to snort and tears of laughter to run twin rivulets down her cheeks. Hermione was laughing openly as well.

"What are you saying, Harry? What could be that scary here?" Remus asked.

"_Don't be insulted by what I am about to say, guardians,"_ Harry thought quickly.

"_As our Lord instructs,"_ Amunet replied.

"Those were two of the baby Nundu's," Harry explained.

"Ta...ta...ta...two of the ba...ba...ba...baby Nundus?" Remus asked, turning white again.

"Oh he's having you on, Moony. This is Harry. Those were enormous animals. They were probably the largest Nundu ever recorded," Sirius said confidently.

"_Can I send you images the way we talk, Amunet?"_ Harry asked.

"_Yes, Lord. Simply think of the memory you wish us to see and we will experience it,"_ Amunet replied.

Harry thought of his encounter with Fluffy, the Cerberus Hagrid had provided to Professor Dumbledore's plan to protect the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort. Harry could feel all four paws' worth of Amunet's tiny claws sink into his shoulder.

"_Are your dire forms larger than this creature?"_ Harry asked.

"_My Lord, this creature would not even fill our mouth when in our dire form. We would need to be most careful to not swallow it whole,"_ Amunet explained.

Harry looked over at Sirius with a steel glint. "No, Padfoot. They were nearly new-born kittens, much like these three little cuteys," he said, indicating the kittens.

"Yeah right, whatever. Speaking of which, where did you get those little heart-breakers. They're darling?" Sirius asked.

Harry chose to wait until Hermione was taking a sip of her water, "They were hiding in the master suite's foyer when we came out to rescue you two from the Nundu kittens," Harry said, timing his response perfectly. Hermione managed to spray the water out her nose all over Sirius.

Hermione coughed twice then in a very lady-like fashion, blew her nose into her napkin. "That stings like the dickens!" she exclaimed then turned to Harry and joking exclaimed, "Bastard!"

Simultaneously, Daphne and Emma exclaimed, "Language!" then looked at one another and said "Weird," in stereo. Daphne then covered her mouth with both hands, afraid but not sure why.

Hermione just laughed at Daphne's antics.

"_Amunet, would you like to help reward Sirius and Remus again for their dastardly attempt to pour iced water on the Ladies earlier? It would involve going outside and changing to your dire form," _Harry asked.

Remus was looking over at Harry and asked, "Harry, why is your kitten smiling?"

-oOoOo-

After dinner, Harry insisted they all go outside to feed the adult Nundu who lived on the grounds. The trio carefully put their kittens down just inside the door and the seven of them walked outside.

Harry pulled the doors nearly closed behind them,leaving a wide gap, insuring Amunet, Bomani and Chike had gotten outside. He then waited a few moments.

"Okay, no matter what you see and no matter what you hear, do not yell or move quickly," Hermione said, queued by Harry squeezing her hand.

"They won't hurt you if you do exactly what we say," Daphne explained.

"Mint," Harry called and the elf appeared. "Mint, please bring the platters for the Guardians," he said.

The elf popped away and less than a minute later, popped back outside twenty metres in front of the group. On either side of the elf was a four-metre diameter bowl filled with pieces of bloody, raw meat. Mint popped away and a minute later popped back with three other elves and set down a bowl that was easily ten metres in diameter and well-lit by the light of the waxing gibbous moon.

"Now, stay quiet and move slowly," Harry said.

Sirius had originally thought this was an elaborate hoax, but now was no longer certain. He still had some hopes it was a hoax when Harry next spoke.

"Hereeeee Kitty Kitty Kitty. Heeeeerrrreeeeee Kitty Kitty Kitty," Harry called out shrilly. He then made a loud kissing sound.

"_Bumani, Chike, please come eat,"_ Harry prompted.

Suddenly the sound of crickets quieted. It almost seemed the wind was afraid to make a sound. Emma looked to her left where she thought she had seen motion out of the corner of her eye. Harry watched her as she stuffed her mouth with her fist and began shaking and whimpering. Out of the darkness came Bumani and Chike in their pride form. Harry noticed Hermione holding on to her parents and was quietly speaking with them. Daphne walked over to join Hermione and helped with the explanations to Dan and Emma. Remus and Sirius were both so white Harry was afraid one or both of the wizards would faint.

It was all he could do to not laugh as he called out once again.

"Heeeerrrreeeeee Momma Cat. Heeeerrrreeee Kitty Kitty Kitty. Come on out Momma Kitty," he called shrilly.

"_Amunet, please come eat from the largest bowl,"_ Harry thought.

He noted that Hermione had a firm grip on both Dan while Daphne had a similar grip on Emma and both were more fervently speaking with them, which seemed to calm them a great deal because neither of them fainted when Amunet walked in to eat from the bowl.

Even Harry had not seen her until the light of the moon was blotted out of the night sky. Even he had thought the legends Daphne had read were exaggerated. If anything, they paled in comparison to reality. Harry was honestly surprised the cobblestones of the courtyard weren't breaking under the weight. While Amunet's pride form clearly dwarfed him, her dire form dwarfed everything in his experience. He was sure she would have been able to easily fit one of the Hogwart's carriages in her mouth, thestrals and all, without noticing. Now that he knew where to look, he saw her claws were his height, if not a bit longer. When she lowered her head to eat, the bowl was only half again the width of her head. If the pride form was obvious death, the dire form was undeniable annihilation.

Amunet emptied the large bowl in three bites and licked it clean. She then took a step back, stretched and yawned then turned and rapidly vanished into the night. She then changed to her pride form and walked back into the courtyard.

Clearly Emma's perspective had been completely changed because instead of nearly screaming, she was cooing when she saw Amunet walk in. "Oh there's a third kitten. But it's so much smaller than the other two. They'll never let her eat," Emma said.

"_Alpha Guardian, we offer up this poor meal offered by our meagre hunting skills to help nourish us," _the two males said to Amunet formally, but clearly heard by Hermione, Daphne and Harry.

Much to Emma's surprise, Bumani and Chike moved away from the bowls and let Amunet finish the contents of both bowls.

"Isn't that just so darling!" Emma squealed quietly. Even Dan was warming up to these immense "kittens".

"It is darling, Darling," Dan said, holding Emma in a one-armed embrace, both to display his affection for his wife and to keep her from running out and trying to pet these killing and eating machines.

Much to his horror, Hermione was clearly going insane. "Would you like to pet them, Mum?" she asked.

At the same time Emma asked, "Can I?" Dan was whisper-shouting, "Are you insane?"

Hermione looked at her mother and said, "Yes," taking Emma's hand.

Daphne looked at Dan and said, "Yes," then smiled and took Emma's other hand.

The three of them walked slowly towards the three Nundu as Daphne and Hermione were whispering instructions to Emma.

Meanwhile, Dan was gesturing to Harry. "Are you nuts? They'll kill them!" Dan whispered loudly to Harry.

"Dan. Dan. Dan. Neither Hermione nor Daphne have anything against those little darlings. Why would you think they would hurt them?" Harry asked.

"_I could smell it earlier, but you are this one's daughter,"_ Amunet said as Emma reached up with the back of her hand for Amunet to sniff. Amunet performed the obligatory sniffing of her hand then lowered her head and rubbed the top of her head against Emma's hand and began purring. She then lay down and lifted her head so Emma could scratch her chin. "She's so soft," Emma said with awe in her voice.

Dan began sputtering then looked over at Emma, Hermione and Daphne. True to Hermione's word, the three of them had three very happy Nundu getting their chins and ears scratched.

Harry and Hermione already heard Daphne's silent warning to Chike that there would be no repeat of earlier and that any growling or aggression towards Emma would be met with swift, unforgiving punishment.

Hermione was standing close to her mother as Bumani also lay down and lifted his head so Hermione could scratch his chin.

Chike very carefully lay down and bowed his head so Daphne could scratch his ears.

"_Do Wizardkind really enjoy doing this?"_ Amunet asked curiously.

"Dan, would you like to go pet one of them?" Harry asked.

Dan looked at the three loudly purring monsters. "I'm more of a dog person, Harry," Dan said somewhat meekly, "besides, there's three girls and three of them so I wouldn't want to take one away from our girls," Dan said, trying to sound nonchalant

"Of course. Mustn't take one away from the girls," Harry agreed with a grin.

"_Yes, Amunet. I would happily do this any time my Harry or my Daphne were too busy to spend time with me,"_ Hermione thought to the cats.

After half an hour of communing with the cats, Amunet again announced, "_Enough! Chike, are we calm?"_

Chike responded immediately, "_Yes, Alpha Guardian. Lady Daphne, thank you once more for giving us a reward we so clearly do not deserve." _He then rubbed the side of his face against Daphne's hand one last time before standing, backing away, yawning and giving a great stretch.

Bumani also spoke. "_Thank you, Lady Hermione. we, too, feel we did nothing deserving of this reward and we would always willingly keep you company should you find yourself in need of companionship while our Lord and Lady Daphne are elsewhere,"_ he said. He, too, rubbed the side of his face against Hermione's hand before standing, backing away, yawning and giving a great stretch.

"_Away with you. Change to your family form and return to the edge of darkness near the wizard home,"_ Amunet said. Then she rubbed her head against Emma's hand and very carefully licked the side of Emma's face before she stood, backed away, yawned and gave a great stretch. All three of them disappeared into the darkness.

Emma stood in place for several minutes, holding the side of her face where Amunet had licked her. Hermione, used to her mother's moods, had never seen her behave like this before. "Mum, are you okay?" she asked, putting her hand on Emma's shoulder.

Emma shook herself for a moment, then her look of awe transformed into an ear-to-ear grin. "That was brilliant! That was amazingly, fabulously, indescribably brilliant!" she gushed.

"We should go back inside now," Harry said. "Mint," he called out, the little elf appearing immediately, "could you please waken Master Lupin and Lord Black and let them know we have retired to the study," he said, looking at the two wizards who had fainted when Amunet appeared in her dire form.

"Yes, Lord Harry," Mint replied.

Harry and Dan gathered up the women and entered into the manor, Harry being careful to insure the kittens had gotten inside through the door he had left opened a crack.

-oOoOo-

Emma awoke to Dan's hands gently massaging her calves and feet.

"Mmmmmm, that feels so nice, Honey Bear," she moaned. She opened her eyes and noticed it was still dark outside. "What time is it?"

"I'm glad you enjoy it, Cuddle Cat," Dan responded. Really it was his way of bleeding off stress and he figured if it was mutually beneficial, all the better. "It's probably about two or three in the morning. I couldn't sleep and thought you were probably still a little tense from earlier and I wanted to begin apologising to you for my stupidity earlier. I was an idiot for thinking Hermione would fall for a boy's tricks and I was a fool for thinking Harry would ever hurt our little girls," he explained.

"Oh, Dan. Yes, you were an idiot, but not a fool. You just need time to get to know him through more than just Hermione's letters. Honey Bear?" she began, "Does it seem at all odd to you that both of us accept Daphne as being almost a daughter and feeling protective over her?"

"I think she means the world to our Hermione and I was programmed from birth to be hyper-protective of children and women. The fact that she's intelligent, beautiful and has captured Hermione's heart has something to do with it. What my logical mind is challenged with is so rapidly accepting their sexuality," Dan said thoughtfully, continuing to work on the balls of her feet.

"Have you accepted it or are you merely ignoring it?" Emma asked playfully.

He finished with her feet and started in on her arms and hands.

"You don't want to run those magic hands over my back?" she asked sleepily.

"I would disturb our guests if I did that," he replied then laughed softly. "You've got quite a collection of little fur balls this morning."

Sure enough, six black kittens were sleeping on and next to Emma.

"They seem to tolerate me well enough, but when I pick one up, they'll let me pet them for a couple of minutes before they want to get down and fall asleep on you again," he said, amused at Emma's predicament. He finished massaging her hands then picked up one of the kittens and put it right next to her face. "This one," he said, indicating the kitten, "really seems to like you."

It certainly seemed to be the case as the kitten proceeded to walk up to Emma's cheek and rub its face against her while purring loudly. Emma slowly moved her arm and began petting the kitten. Just before she touched the kitten with her hand, it closed its eyes and butted its head against her hand.

"I see what you mean. Six kittens? Really?" She asked, somewhat amazed.

"Yes, Love, six. I wonder how many of them they have," Dan said, gently running his fingers through Emma's hair.

"I don't know and if you keep doing that, I am going to fall back asleep again," Emma said, feeling completely relaxed.

"Then I guess I should keep doing this, then," Dan replied with a small, satisfied smile on his face. _"Yes, my Love, this is so relaxing for me, too, not to mention very nicely changing the subject,"_ he thought. He continued to rub her head until her breathing once again returned to the slow, deep breaths of sleep. The kitten near her face was already curled against her ear, sleeping quietly.

Dan rolled back down onto the bed and put his hands on his chest. He was about to close his eyes when he felt a slight disturbance on the bed. He looked down at his feet and saw that two more kittens had jumped onto the bed. _"Eight of them? Wow! That is one prolific momma cat,"_ he thought with a smile. The two newcomers sniffed at his feet then walked up the bed and curled into the crook of one of his arms. He got a self-satisfied smirk on his face then closed his eyes. He was asleep within moments.

-oOoOo-

Daphne gently woke to the feeling of fur under her chin and Hermione spooned up behind her. She opened her eyes. The moonlight was streaming into the room. She began to sit up but heard, "_Our apologies, Lady, we did not intend to disturb you,"_ Chike said.

"_You did not disturb me, Chike. I was dreaming and my dreams woke me,"_ Daphne thought back.

"_We are already beginning to return here. Many of us have returned and are gathering. We will always be present with you unless you wish us to only be close at hand,"_ Chike explained.

"_Do you always sleep in your family form?"_ Daphne asked.

"_It is the easiest form to find a warm space to sleep in. Mothers with young sleep in pride form to provide protection, food and warmth for the young,"_ Chike explained. He got up from beneath her chin and moved so she could see him. "_You should sleep, Lady. We will be here for you."_

Daphne reached out and scratched Chike's chin for a few moments, causing the kitten to close his eyes and start purring. "_I think I shall, Chike. Thank you for your diligence and thoughtfulness. Good night,"_ Daphne absently pet the kitten for a few more minutes before once again getting comfortable and falling into a deep, sound sleep.

-oOoOo-

The light steaming in from above woke Harry. He opened his eyes and from his vantage point, it was clear that he and Hermione had moved around a bit during the night. He was laying on his back and she was currently using his chest as a pillow. Daphne was curled into Hermione and had her head nearly hidden by Hermione's 'morning hair'. No matter how she tried to tame it, Hermione's hair was always a giant, tangled bush in the morning.

Something he didn't expect to see was a black kitten asleep on his chest or another he could feel curled up next to his arm. Both were clearly asleep. With his one arm being held onto by a sleeping kitten and the other being held onto by a sleeping Daphne, he couldn't move without disturbing someone.

He felt a slight pressure on his legs. Moving as little as possible so as to not disturb anyone, he looked towards his feet and saw what appeared to be a fat, grey, tiger-striped adult cat finishing a stretch. It then began cleaning itself. It did this for about five minutes before it looked over at him and became obviously startled.

"_Lord, we did not intend to awaken you. Our humblest apologies for disturbing your sleep,_" Harry heard in an older woman's voice. The cat moved to jump down.

"_Wait, please,"_ he said and the cat paused and turned to face him.

"_I have seen the family form, the pride form and the dire form. Yours is a form I have not yet seen,"_ he continued.

"_Lord? This is our family form. We are about to grow in strength and numbers,_" she said with pride.

"_We are glad for this. You honour us with this knowledge,"_ Daphne said.

Harry looked over to see Daphne peeking her head up above Hermione's bushy mass.

"_May we know your name, Lady?"_ the cat asked.

"_I am Daphne, daughter of Ophelia, daughter of Persephone,"_ Daphne said.

"_We are honoured by your grace, Lady. If we may be so bold, are you Alpha?"_ the grey cat asked.

"_We are not. The brown-mane is Alpha,"_ Daphne answered.

"_May we know her name, Lady?"_ the cat asked.

"_She is Hermione, daughter of Emma, daughter of Grace, Alpha,"_ Daphne said, formally.

"Huh? Wha? Don't wanna get up..." Hermione said sleepily then rolled over onto her back.

Daphne looked down at Hermione with a smile. "Hey Beautiful. Love you," Daphne cooed to Hermione.

Hermione opened her eyes and looked up at Daphne and smiled. "I love waking to your smile, Darling," Hermione said, reaching up to palm Daphne's cheek.

"_May we know your name, Mother?" _Harry thought, looking from the two women to the cat again.

"_I am Dalila, daughter of Nailah, daughter of Auset, Mother of Alphas,_" she responded.

Daphne, who's attention had been firmly fixed on kissing Hermione senseless, sat up and looked at Dalila, then looked to Harry, then back at Dalila. _"We are honoured, Mother, with your presence,"_ Daphne said.

Hermione sat up as well to see to whom Daphne was speaking and saw Dalila. "What a pretty kitty! She's about to have kittens," Hermione said, reaching over to pet the cat. Dalila tensed and Hermione stopped moving.

"_She intends no harm. She meant but to pet you,"_ Daphne explained.

"_Can the Alpha not hear our words?"_ Dalila asked, getting up and gingerly walked up to Hermione.

Hermione reached her hand out, allowing Dalila to sniff her. Hermione then began petting her head then scratched her ears, muzzle and chin.

"Alpha_?"_ Hermione asked.

"That would be you," Daphne said barely holding in her giggles.

"_I can hear your words, but I was asleep," _Hermione thought.

Hermione looked at the cat in deep thought. "Isn't Amunet related to a Dalila? And Bast?" she asked, then regretting her question when she felt anguish and looked at Harry to find the source.

At the mention of Bast again, Harry's emotional shields, too long holding in the grief he felt all too acutely for all of the innocent lives Tom Riddle had taken, crumbled into nothingness and the pain ripped through him like a tidal wave and his tears freely flowed.

Daphne, too, felt Harry's pain but she also felt another's great sadness in the room. Hermione was already moving to get to Harry and Daphne had begun moving as well, but her eyes were drawn to Dalila. It was from Dalila the sadness was coming. Hermione moved the two kittens out of the way and began comforting Harry, pulling his head into her lap. Daphne also moved next to Harry and put her head on Harry's chest and held him.

"I'm...sorry...feel...so...pathetic," Harry whispered between sobs.

"Let it out, Harry. We're here for you," Hermione whispered to him, running her hand over his brow and hair.

"Harry, my Love, you've been holding this in for far too long. Share your grief with us," Daphne said.

Harry had begun shivering and his lips began turning blue.

"He's going into shock, Daph! Help me!" Hermione yelled.

Daphne moved off Harry as Hermione attempted to pull him up closer to get him warm. Daphne then moved to his other side and began vigorously rubbing his chest and arms.

One of the kittens suddenly filled the bed in her pride form. "_Bring him to me Ladies, so I may help keep our Lord safe,"_ Amunet said as she lay down on her side.

Hermione began trying to pull Harry over to Amunet but it was Daphne who instead grabbed her wand.

"Corpus Mobilus," she said, casting at Harry. His body levitated off the bed, allowing Hermione to easily manoeuvre him over to the waiting cat. Once there, Daphne cancelled the spell and the two women lay against Harry, sandwiching him between Amunet and Hermione, with Daphne hovering over. Amunet had begun gently licking his head with the barest touch of the tip of her tongue. "_He is sick with grief. While we can keep him safe, we cannot heal him. He requires a blessing,"_ Amunet said.

"How do we get him a blessing?" Hermione asked aloud.

"_We must get him past this moment of grief. Should he survive, we shall provide him a blessing," _Amunet explained.

Harry was gripping Amunet's fur and crying incoherently. After fifteen minutes, with Hermione occasionally catching a word or two of what Harry was saying, he stopped crying, his shivering had subsided and his lips gained back their colour.

"_He recovers quickly. He will sleep for a time. The small ones have a drink he will need when he awakens. It will provide him the strength of body he needs,"_ Amunet explained. "_One of you must __remain until he awakens. It would not do for him to awaken without the sense of one of you protecting him,"_ she continued.

"Mint!" Daphne called, being the one on the outside. The little elf popped in.

"Yes, Lady Daphne?"

"Mint, Amunet spoke of a potion. I think she meant a Pepper-Up, but is there a potion which is similar which house elves make?" she asked

"Yes, Lady Daphne. We have an Elixir of Mending being made for Lord Harry. It will be ready soon," she explained.

"Thank you, Mint," Daphne said with a relieved smile. Mint popped out.

Daphne curled back around Hermione and reached over her to touch Harry.

Harry's breathing calmed and, after a few minutes, began the slow, deep breathing of sleep. He still held his arms around Amunet's neck as he slept, looking for all the world like a small child cuddling a life-sized grizzly teddy bear.

"Mint," Daphne called. Mint popped in right next to her. "Mint, would you please cast Ago Eluo? Neither Hermione nor I will be leaving Harry's side any time soon," Daphne explained.

Mint cast the spell and popped out.

"What is that, Daphne?" Hermione asked.

"Ago Eluo is a spell used at St Mungo's for patients who are bed-ridden for whatever reason. It takes care of their personal elimination needs," Daphne explained.

Hermione thought for a moment and then smiled. "What a wonderfully useful spell," she said. "Thank you, Love," she said, turning her head to look at Daphne.

Daphne sat up and kissed her. "Anything for you, My Love," she said then lay back down, cuddling into Hermione.

Amunet lay her great head down and over the course of the next fifteen minutes her purring grew softer and softer until she entered into a deep sleep.

The soft purring helped to put both Daphne and Hermione to sleep as well. Their internal sense of safety told them they had nothing and no one to fear.

-oOoOo-

Harry awoke with his face buried in the softest hair he had ever felt. "_Hermione must be using a new shampoo,"_ he thought. He then remembered what had happened and realized he was laying on and in a couple of places covered up by the same soft fur. He opened his eyes and could see nothing but black fur.

"_Our Lord awakens,"_ Amunet stated.

Harry felt an arm around his waist tighten and then realized at least one of the girls was spooned tightly into him. He also realized he was quite naked and whomever was spooned into him was equally naked.

"Harry, are you feeling okay?" Hermione asked and slightly released her grip around his waist.

Amunet lifted her head and Harry realized he had his arms wrapped as far around the neck of the great cat as he could manage. Harry tried to sit up and immediately fell back, almost blacking out.

"Sit up slowly, Love," Daphne said, reaching past Hermione to rub his shoulder.

Hermione helped Harry to slowly sit up. Daphne handed Hermione the steaming mug Mint had popped in with earlier.

"Harry, drink this slowly. It will help to make you feel better," Hermione said, putting the mug into his hands and helping him hold it.

To Harry, even lifting the mug to his lips was a herculean effort and could not have done it without Hermione helping him. He presumed this was some type of potion, but the aroma was that of a savoury stew. He tilted the mug back and tasted the contents.

"Slowly, Harry. It's warm and we want to make sure you drink it all and don't spill any," Hermione said in a motherly fashion.

Harry didn't even nod. The flavour was amazing and he slowly but surely continued drinking from the mug, taking a breath every three or four swallows.

As he drank from the mug, both Hermione and Daphne could see a physical transformation in Harry. His skin went from being pasty to a healthy tan. His frame, shortened from being malnourished for so many years of attention from the Dursleys, began to fill in and his chest, arms and legs began to develop in ways most interesting to both girls. But what struck them both was the curse scar on his forehead began to fade and finally disappeared. Watching Harry drink, it was also clear that the mug was larger on the inside than on the outside as Harry likely drank ten times the volume of potion than the mug could hold. When he finished, the overall changes were astounding. Daphne and Hermione had found Harry physically attractive before, but now he had the body that better reflected how the young man should have developed if not for years of malnourishment.

"Wow! That was the first potion I've ever had that didn't taste like boiled grass and socks worn for a week," Harry said with a smile.

Both Hermione and Daphne were looking at Harry with wide eyes and slack jaws. Both were utterly speechless.

Harry looked back and forth between the two. "What's wrong?" he asked. When he got no coherent response, he asked again. "Hermione? Daphne? You're scaring me, now," he said, a look of concern on his face.

Hermione recovered first. "Dibs!" she exclaimed.

At this, Daphne recovered. "Not fair. Rocks, Paper, Scissors," she said. Then she looked at Hermione, who was staring at Harry. Then back at Harry. Then she whispered something in Hermione's ear which Harry could not hear.

Clearly though, it pleased the brunette witch very much. "Oh Hell Yes!" Hermione exclaimed then captured Daphne's lips in a passionate kiss. Daphne had clearly been prepared for this as she had already closed her eyes in anticipation. They continued their kiss until they had to part to breathe.

"I will certainly never get tired of seeing that," Harry said with a goofy grin on his face.

Daphne leaned over and whispered into Harry's ear while looking at Hermione. Harry's eyes grew wide and shocked. "All three of us? Me? Hermione? Like that? With you doing that to her?" Harry asked, his eyebrows rising into his hairline and his complexion reddening from embarrassment. Daphne whispered to him in reassurance in a sultry voice, "You and Hermione like that and me helping Hermione along."

Harry slowly stood. "_Amunet, the three of us need some privacy. Can you insure we are not disturbed?_" Harry asked cordially.

"_As our Lord commands, it shall be done,_" Amunet answered.

"_Thank you, Amunet," _Harry responded.

"_It is our pleasure, Lord,"_ she responded. Amunet transformed to her family form and leapt from the bed.

-oOoOo-

-oOoOoOoOoOo-

Omake – the way I originally wrote the scene with Emma and Dan having an energetic discussion concerning Harry, Daphne and Hermione.

I like the way I wrote it above better – it speaks of a greater strength of character and force of will than the scene below.

I also just realized the omake is the only part of the chapter which tells the reader when this is and how old they are.

-oOoOoOoOoOo-

Hermione and Daphne were in tears almost immediately. Forgetting about the kittens in their arms, they began sobbing, but not before Hermione asked, "Daddy, how could you?"

Dan turned around to see the two girls with their heads buried against Harry's chest. "Kitten?" Dan asked in a panicked voice.

Harry had an arm around each of the girls and was alternating between whispering comforting words and kissing the tops of their heads. Dan then noticed that each of the three had a black kitten on their shoulders and all three of them were looking directly at him. As their crying had not abated, Harry looked up at Dan. Dan noticed Harry and the kittens had the same colour eyes and all four pairs appeared to glow as Dan's eyes met Harry's.

"Mister Granger, unlike the non-magical world, there are laws in place in the magical world which make it a crime for unwed women to have relations with a man before they are married. Additionally, as Mrs Granger stated, Hermione, Daphne and I are not simply married. We are soul-bound and have, only just today, well, yesterday, finalized our bond. Under normal circumstances, Hermione would have been an adult in the magical government's eyes a year from now, while Daphne and I would normally be two years from being so recognized. With our bond complete, we are now recognized as adults by the magical government. I was unaware, based on our conversation from the other night, that you objected to me marrying my Hermione and my Daphne. You, sir, have upset my wives and caused them a deep, deep hurt. They have already had an intense, emotional day and you dare question my love for them. You dare question my commitment to them. You dare question my honour and my integrity when it comes to them. I had been led to believe you were a better man than that, Sir," Harry said, anger and contempt clearly standing out in his voice.

-oOoOoOoOoOo-


	8. Bella and The Dragon Lord

Bellatrix sat at the table, twirling the liquor in her glass, contemplating the events of the past few weeks. Her former lord, the most powerful dark wizard she had ever even heard of, lay slain.

-o-o-o-

The foolish boy had brought his friends to die, or so she thought.

"These three muggle children, Tom. I've brought them to show you what I am capable of," Harry said brightly.

"You mean to tell me you've come to join me?" her Lord had enquired.

The boy actually had the stones to laugh in amusement at her Lord.

"Join you? Oh no, Tom. You've misunderstood. I've come to end you," he'd said, his green eyes shining brightly.

Her Lord stood petrified for a moment, as did all of his ranks, as the boy filled his mind with memories.

-o-o-

The boy and his mudblood bitch were sitting before the three muggle children. All five of them had tears tracks on their faces.

"We tried," he explained. "We took all of you. Not just you three, but all of the children who were beyond the means normally available medically. We were able to heal all of them. All of them except you three."

All three of them had Stage IVb metastatic osteosarcoma.

"We can't heal you, and we cannot extend your lives," the mudblood explained. "But we can..." her voice broke and she stopped and closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts, "we can make your deaths painless and meaningful. We can use your deaths to truly stop a great evil," she explained.

The boy then went on to describe her Lord's mission and the successes her Lord had experienced in cleansing the world of the blight that was muggles.

They showed the three children the wonder that magic was to muggles, then explained how their deaths would have meaning. How the energy of their deaths would be used.

All three agreed without hesitation.

-o-o-o-

It was one of the darkest spells, she knew. To imprison a soul within its corporeal being.

It had required the sacrifice of three innocents, and they had been chosen so appropriately. It had even been explained to them what their fate was, and all three could not have been happier. They had, in fact, felt as if their wishes had been answered. In a way, they had been.

He spoke the incantation and, with a single stroke of his sword, neatly severing the children's heads, bathing himself in their innocent blood.

Her Lord screamed in impotent rage as he felt the fragments of his soul reforged into a single, though scarred, whole once again.

"I will end you and your pathetic minions today, Potter!" her Lord had screamed, frothing at the mouth, his spittle flying across the emptiness between them.

She had thought fiendfyre was hot, powerful, and dark. It was fire as hot as lava, could only be controlled by the most powerful, and was based on hatred. She could summon a whip made entirely of fiendfyre. A five-metre long whip. And even then, she had to stay entirely focused on it lest it get away from her and, as with all who lost control of their fiendfyre, became instantly consumed by it as it flared then winked out.

Her lord had been able to summon a force of fiendfyre the size of a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon. He could control its manifestation for days, so great was his control and his hatred.

Once her lord had been imprisoned within that all-too-fragile body, his adversary had called upon a force of magic so mind-numbingly black that it absorbed the light in the room, giving off an eerie violet glow at its very edges.

The room chilled and their breath was frost, causing the faint violet glow to scintillate in the darkness. And it was cold – an all-consuming cold she instantly felt burning in the marrow of her bones. It took the shape of a Hungerian Horntail, and fought the Norwegian Ridgeback.

The fight was terribly one-sided.

The Ridgeback hurled a ball of fire the size of an adult acromantula at the Horntail. The ball of chaotic fiendfyre did not have the expected effect.

Had it struck anything else, it would have given rise to the birth of a conflagration so powerful, it would only have been stoppable by the removal of all fuel within a large area – a task which would have required the efforts of hundreds, if not thousands of wizards. Or merely a look from her lord.

It struck the Horntail, and the Horntail grew incrementally larger. Four more fiendfyre balls struck the Horntail. Four more times the Horntail grew. The Ridgeback reared its head again to hurl a sixth ball of fire when the Horntail struck, decapitating the Ridgeback in a move so frighteningly quick that her lord did not have time to react.

The energy contained within the Ridgeback was enough to level everything within miles, and leave a crater big enough to take a month to fill with the reverse flow of sea water coming from what remained of the banks of the Severns.

That energy winked out of existence in less time that it took to blink, ending with a sharp POP! The Horntail had closed its unholy green eyes as it had struck and seemed to have a self-satisfied look on its snout.

She had thought she had known fear before.

When the Horntail opened its eyes and looked at Bella, she knew that whatever the worst fear she had ever known before in her life was as nothing compared to the all-consuming fear that struck her dumb and immobile. What the Cruciatus was to pain, the gaze of this dragon was to fear.

It then looked about and focused its gaze on her lord.

He stood motionless for what seemed an eternity, the only noise in the room was the consuming crackle of the Horntail. When it snorted in what Bella could only assume was amusement, her lord began mewling like an injured kitten.

The smell was from the depths of Hell itself. It wasn't until days later she had realised it had not been just her lord who had soiled his robes. It had been every death eater, every person who had no idea what this malevolent monstrosity was capable of - in other words, all but thirteen people in the room - had soiled themselves.

The Horntail reached out one of its impossibly black forearms and lifted her lord in its crushing grip. Even before the dragon had begun squeezing the life force from him, her lord had begun screaming insanely. No discernible words. No pleas for mercy. Just a scream of abject terror as the dragon lifted him, almost gently, and held him carefully.

She knew her lord was burning. She could see great rips in his robes where the dragon's talon had burned through them and was burning deeply within his flesh. She then felt the dark mark on her arm painfully, chillingly burning. More pain and cold than she had ever experienced before, even more painful than the Cruciatus. Her body felt as if her blood had frozen and great, jagged splinters of ice rammed through her veins, slicing and tearing as they flowed.

And then the pain was gone. She looked at her forearm and could see blood pouring from between the fingers of her other hand that had reflexively gripped her arm. It stopped after a moment and, as she removed her hand from her arm, could see that, where her dark mark had been before, a wound was closing up and healing rapidly.

Then she noticed the scream.

She did not see her lord's final moments. Her hands were over her ears. She had knelt down, and her eyes were as tightly closed as she could get them, trying to drive the screaming of her lord from her mind.

The screaming stopped. It took some minutes for her and the others to realise it as, even now, it still echoed in her mind.

Then the boy had looked down at what remained of her lord. The boy was tisking at her lord as her lord's body burned until not even ash was left.

The black-fire Horntail set its head down in front of the boy and he actually touched it; stroked its neck, pet its head, and cooed at it in amusement. It seemed to purr at the attention and shrank slightly with each stroke. Their leader did not seem to tire of petting this creature of pure, unadulterated evil and he continued to pet it until after it was reduced to the size of a small dog, he pet it once more from the tip of its head to the end of its arrow-like tail and it softly popped out of existence.

He looked up at the collected remains of those who had been loyal to her lord with those same malevolent, glowing, green eyes.

He slowly withdrew his wand from a wrist holster then bent down and picked up the only remaining piece left of her lord – his wand.

"By right of conquest, I, Harry James Potter, Lord of House Potter, do claim dominion and ownership of all properties and vassals by oath, allegiance, or conquest to Tom Marvolo Riddle, the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort. Further, I claim all titles, lands, rights, privileges, chattel, vassals to all said vassals, and all other rights or privileges so granted, earned, or taken. So mote it be!" her new lord said.

Before the purebloods present could even gasp in realisation of what had just been done to them, intense white spikes of magic burst forward from her new lord, piercing them through their foreheads and exiting to find all whom owed allegiance or servitude to them. All who were struck by the magic were dazed for some time.

When they regained their senses, they were all kneeling in a half-circle around a raised dais where their new lord was seated in an ornate throne. To either side of him sat three witches. At the base of the dais stood a young man with a young woman on either side of him. To the left of them stood two smiling men, one of whom she recognised as her cousin Sirius, with a young red-haired woman standing between them, who looked decidedly dejected.

She did not need to look to know that her now-dead lord's most trusted advisers were those sitting closest to the platform. Their families were immediately behind them.

Those who were the muscle of the organisation, and their families, were furthest away.

She had wondered what was intended and she had immediately wished she had squelched that thought, because hers had been the first name called.

"Bellatrix Dysesthesia Black, please step forward," a man called. Bellatrix looked up towards the sound of the voice calling her maiden name and corrected her thought. Not a man but merely a boy. And one she recognized all too well. The Longbottom heir.

She was surprised that he looked at her with little more than indifference as she stood and walked to stand before those gathered.

"Kneel before us, Bella, so you may know our pleasure," the golden-haired girl on the right edge, wearing the silver and green of Slytherin House, said in a crystalline voice, her insane, intense blue eyes boring into Bella's mind, and a smile filled with contempt washing over her as the girl bypassed Bella's occlumency shields as if they weren't there.

Bella tried. She really had tried, until sweat broke out on her forehead. But it was no use. She could not even think of insults to demonstrate her disrespectful attitude to this girl, either of the boys, or any of the others before her. She would never kneel before these... these... THESE... people. Her lord.

So she knelt. Her new lord stood, walked to her, and caressed her cheek. She wanted so much to tilt her head back quickly and bite the hand. To turn her head and spit into his face. To tear his hand from his wrist with her teeth.

Instead, she crooned into his hand's delicious warmth. She so did not want to enjoy his attention, but she was enjoying it. She swooned at his touch. It filled her with more happiness than holding the pain spell, whose name she had now forgotten. She became excited as he placed his hand upon her head and pet her hair, stroked her neck, and rubbed her ear.

"Bella is to be my Princess Tracey's praetorian prime. Should any wish to speak with Tracey, they will be examined, in minute detail, by Bella. Should Bella find anything," Harry paused for a moment, tapping his chin with his free hand, then a smile once more came to his face, "untoward, those poor, misguided individuals will have to speak to Bella and the other members of Tracey's praetorian guard to explain their findings."

Harry then looked down at Bella, his glowing green eyes boring into her.

She felt the room grow cold once more as her new lord caressed her cheek again. This time instead of pleasure, it felt as if all the dementors from Azkaban were but a moment from kissing her, and her cheek felt as if a hole was slowly being burned through it. The pain and fear were so intense, she couldn't move. She could only moan pitifully.

"Should my Tracey somehow come to harm, the praetorian guard, and especially the praetorian prime, shall answer to me directly, and I will not be nearly as merciful with them as I was with Tom Riddle," he explained, removing his hand from Bella's cheek and releasing her from his gaze.

Bella wanted to vomit from the pain and fear. Waves of nausea had rolled over her body, and the loss of contact with her lord had not yet relieved her of the pain.

A small, soft hand came in contact with her cheek and the pain evaporated, to be replaced by the sensation of being immersed in warm, delicious honey. Her eyes looked up in adoration at her new Lady.

"Bella will, of course, select from amongst you to make up the ranks of my guard. Should some of you fail to grasp the concept, being a member of the praetorian guard is an unparalleled honour," Tracey explained, briefly looking down at Bella and smiling.

"Bella, you may arise and select from those present to become my guard. Select no more than twelve this evening," Tracey said, sliding her hand off Bella's face. "Choose wisely," she said, then peered down into Bella's eyes.

Bella stared up into the twin blue orbs and the barest thread of sanity that remained within her snapped at the scene which played out before her eyes.

-o-o-o-

"I am Lord Voldemort" painted itself in flames then slowly shifted to "Tom Marvelo Riddle". He stood on a field, surrounded by a swirling, sickly green miasma of energy. A maelstrom of fire and debris swirled beyond. He turned as movement caught his eye. Through the maelstrom strode a tall demonic creature. The man turned to run, but the creature, lightning fast, pierced the man's chest with an impossibly-long, barbed, triple-tined pitchfork.

"Where are you going, Tommy?" the creature hissed in a voice filled with taint and corruption.

The man began gibbering insanely, trying to free himself from the implement.

"No, Tommy. You're not going anywhere. This is, after all, your welcome party. It really is too bad you had no friends, or else we could have invited them. We'll have to make due with your victims," the figure rasped.

The veridian vortex began to coalesce into figures standing at the edge of the field of fire. They lurched forward as one, stumbling closer. The demon raised the man up and drove the tines of the pitchfork into the rock floor, pinning the man down even as he desperately clawed at the fork. As if he knew what was coming.

There were hundreds of them. Perhaps as many as a thousand. As they shambled forward, they became packed so tightly she could no longer see gaps between them. As they reached him, a corridor opened amongst them and she could finally see what they looked like. Grey, faceless creatures with hideously long, tapered fingers ending in ebony claws. The had no eyes or nose, but a lipless mouth filled with row upon row of jagged, yellow teeth.

And their hunger was palpable.

As the first one reached him, it tore a strip of flesh from the man's bare foot with its claws, causing him to scream in intense agony. As it tore the flesh slowly from him, his flesh sizzled and smoked where the claw contacted, filling the air with the overpowering stench of burned meat. As she watched, the wound healed, but not completely before another tore a fist-sized gobbet from the man's thigh. The first one was chewing on its morsel as it walked down the cleared corridor. Each one in turn took its piece and left, only to queue once again at the outer edge. The horror to continue to the end of days.

-o-o-o-

Once again, she was immersed in the cool, healing blue water of those eyes and the nurturing, loving touch upon her cheek. Tracey bent down and kissed her forehead. "This is the failed Dark Lord's punishment. Do not fail me, Bella. Do not fail our Lord," Tracey whispered then pulled her to stand.

Bella closed her eyes and in a moment, their names of those she would choose for her ranks raced across her mind.

This Lady would be protected. This Lady would live to see tomorrow every day. This Lady would know a life fully lived. She stepped back, swooning at the love she now had for her new Lord and Lady.


	9. Luna Lovegood-Psychotic Protective Lover

-o-o-o-

While most of the women and the other girls toasted the bushy-haired girl sitting at the head of the table, one amongst them remained seated, her wine glass remaining on the table.

Elisabeth Nott was looking down at the napkin she was twisting in anger in her lap. Her fingers seemed intent on destroying the very fibres it was made from. Her face purpled in rage at the celebration around her.

The one man she had felt was an unstoppable power in the quest to bring the magical world back on track was dead. And these haughty little tramps were celebrating her lord's murderer's mudblood slut!

Elisabeth slammed her hands flat against the table with all of her might, causing the charger, plate, and silverware in front of her to loudly rattle.

Silence fell across the room.

"Elisabeth! What has come over you?! What is the meaning of this outburst?!" Narcissa Black asked in surprise from across the table.

"All of you are clucking like common chickens come home to roost when you should be respectfully mourning!" Elisabeth shouted in retort.

"Mourning?! Are you mad?" Maureen Bulstrode shouted, sitting down the table from the two women, "We're celebrating our new Lady! For what reason should we mourn?"

"You useless, vapid, fat cow! You have no understanding of what has happened!" Elisabeth screamed back in rage.

All of the older women gathered around the table began screeching at one another.

A crystalline voice lightly filled the room, somehow drowning out the shrill cacophony. All fell silent as they heard the near-whisper.

The diminutive blonde looked at each of the ladies sitting around the table. "Lady Nott obviously has something on her mind. We should remain respectful and approachable and invite her to speak freely amongst us," Luna said demurely, her eyes, as well as the eyes of the other eight young women at the head of the table, who had also looked around the table, finally rested on Lady Nott.

"Lady Nott, you do not find this evening's celebration appropriate?" Luna asked speculatively.

Elisabeth took her twisted, mangled napkin, wiped her hands, and set it on the table as she surveyed the room.

"You all know of the events which have shaped our lives. Our very world. We've lived with the bleating sheep of the magical world complaining about the world at large," Elisabeth said quietly.

"Our late lord was taken from us only this morning and you sit around this table, like frightened lambs, toasting to the long life of a half-blood thieving son of a mudblood whore, and his mudblood slut!" Elisabeth screamed at the end, spittle flying from her lips.

Quicker than any of the women could react, Luna effortlessly leapt onto the table, strode purposefully to in front of where Lady Nott sat at the table. Elisabeth looked up in contempt at the girl, until the girl moved again a moment later.

Luna raised her hand into the air and her whisper rattled the stone walls. "Concede potestatem gladii," she whispered. A goblin-crafted sword appeared in the diminutive blonde's hand, which was in motion the moment her fingers tightened their grip, neatly slicing the woman's head from her shoulders.

The head struck the table and bounced. Moments later, a fountain of arterial blood exploded from the torso as it slid sideways from the chair, painting several of the women with rich, red, blood as it fell to the floor.

Luna bent down and picked the head up by the hair with her free hand and stood upright once more. In a smooth motion, she flicked the sword free of blood. She looked up from the head to gaze out over the terrified women sitting around the table and smiled slightly.

"As your lord's consorts and members of his primary council, we encourage you from time to time, and always in a respectful manner, to question our logic," Luna said, her voice sounding friendly and warm.

"If you're unconvinced that a particular plan of action we've decided is the wisest, tell us so," she said with a slight smile, "but allow us to convince you, and we promise you right here and now, no subject will ever be forbidden."

She paused for a moment, looking about the table to see the looks of horror and fear on the faces of the pureblood women at the table as they watched the blood continue to pour from the headless body.

"Except, of course, the subject that was just under discussion. The price you pay for bringing up either our Lady's or our Lord's late mother's Muggle birth or Muggle heritage as a negative is," she paused to gesture to the eight other women sitting at the head of the table and herself, "we collect your fucking head."

She held up the decapitated head in her raised arm. "Just like this bitch here," she growled loudly.

She looked around the women at the table again, "Now, if any of you bitches have got anything else to say, now's the fucking time!"

The room was so quiet, Luna could only hear the sound of blood dripping from the head in her hand. She waited a full minute for anyone else who was foolish enough to try her patience a second time.

"I didn't think so," she said, tossing the head onto the table, shattering a plate and causing the silver set to scatter as it stopped rolling and stared upwards with glazed eyes in front of a quaking, sobbing Narcissa Black.

Luna stepped off the table and landed on the floor without a sound. Had any of the women been capable of noticing, her clothing and her skin were completely spotless. The girls, especially Hermione and Daphne, smiled brightly at Luna, as she turned and released her grip on the sword. Instead of it clattering to the ground, it seemed to evaporate. She looked up to see none of the women present had been spared the mist and spurts of blood that had settled over the room.

Luna daintily lifted her goblet in toast. "As I was saying, to Lady Hermione Jane Potter, Empress. Long may she reign!"

Even though their wine glasses were unrecoverably tainted, the women all took sips from their glasses; if for no other reason than fear. As each one consumed the droplets of blood from their wine, they felt them interact with their magic.

Suddenly, a field of energy surrounded the bodiless head on the table and the headless body on the floor and each of the droplets of blood painting the furnishings, walls and women, bathed everything in white, sparkling, pulsing power.

There was a bright, blinding flash followed by a shrill scream which cut off quickly. The women around the table looked to the source of the scream and saw Lady Nott sitting once more at the table, her eyes filled with a horrific madness, biting the back of her hand bloody to stifle the scream desperately trying to escape from her throat, successful in muting it to a soft moan.

As Luna drained her glass, along with the other girls, she set it down, and focused on the mewling woman. "So nice of you to join us, once again, Lady Nott. I do hope your short respite has improved your attitude," Luna said softly.


	10. Lumber - The Great Equaliser

-o-o-o-  
>"Don't you turn your back on me, don't you even try to walk away from me! Just who the hell do you think you are?!" Hermione screamed.<br>The death eater ran, slamming the door behind him as he went through it, mewling in fright.  
>-o-o-o-<br>"Ready?" Harry asked, about to cast a Reducto curse at the door the death eater had just slammed.  
>Luna looked at him quizzically. "Why do muggleborns and muggle-raised always ask if everyone is ready right before they are going to do something massively unwise?" she asked in honest curiosity.<br>Harry frowned for a moment, then looked about to answer when Hermione put a finger to his lips and looked at Luna.  
>"Tradition, Luna-love," the brunette said, looking quickly at Harry with a slight shake of her head.<br>-o-o-o-  
>"Arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you," Hermione observed, hefting the two-by-four in her hands. "You remind me of a pinata."<br>Draco lowered his wand for a moment and looked thoughtful. "A pinata? So, you think of me as something bright and cheerful, full of toys and candy for young children," Draco mused.  
>It was all Hermione could do to keep from snorting.<br>-o-o-o-  
>"I've always said you can get more with a two-by-four and a kind word than with just a kind word," Luna explained to Hermione, wiping the gore off on Draco's shirt.<br>-o-o-o-  
>"He made a very satisfying 'thump' when he hit the floor," Luna said.<br>-o-o-o-  
>"I would like you to take time to learn the Hogwarts Mantra. 'Hermione is always right. I will listen to Hermione. I will not ignore Hermione's recommendations. Hermione is the Goddess.' Have a nice day," Luna explained, patting Harry's cheek.<br>-o-o-o-  
>"May the Goddess stand between you and harm, in all the empty places where you must walk," Steelgrip said, then noted Hermione was tapping her foot impatiently, twisting a piece of lumber in her hand.<br>Steelgrip swallowed in nervousness before continuing in an enlightened fashion, "unless, of course, you've upset Lady Potter. In that event, may the Goddess guide and protect her while she seeks you out to explain the way the universe works, and around whom it revolves." He sighed a breath of relief as a small smile broke out on Hermione's face.  
>-o-o-o-<p> 


End file.
